A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their workers. Equivalently, it is the price floor below which workers may not sell their labor, although minimum wage laws are in effect in many jurisdictions, differences of opinion exist about the benefits and drawbacks of a minimum wage. Supporters of the minimum wage say it increases the standard of living of workers, reduces poverty, reduces inequality, and boosts morale;[1] in contrast, opponents of the minimum wage say it increases poverty, increases unemployment (particularly among unskilled or inexperienced workers) and is damaging to businesses, because excessively high minimum wages require businesses to raise the prices of their product or service to accommodate the extra expense of paying a higher wage.[2][3][4]

Modern minimum wage laws were first passed in New Zealand and Australia in the 1890s, the movement for minimum wages was first motivated as a way to stop the exploitation of workers in sweatshops, by employers who were thought to have unfair bargaining power over them. Over time, minimum wages came to be seen as a way to help lower-income families. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century.[5]

"It is a serious national evil that any class of His Majesty's subjects should receive less than a living wage in return for their utmost exertions. It was formerly supposed that the working of the laws of supply and demand would naturally regulate or eliminate that evil [...and...] ultimately produce a fair price. Where... you have a powerful organisation on both sides... there you have a healthy bargaining.... But where you have what we call sweated trades, you have no organisation, no parity of bargaining, the good employer is undercut by the bad, and the bad employer is undercut by the worst... where those conditions prevail you have not a condition of progress, but a condition of progressive degeneration."

Modern minimum wage laws trace their origin to the Ordinance of Labourers (1349), which was a decree by King Edward III that set a maximum wage for laborers in medieval England.[6][7] King Edward III, who was a wealthy landowner, was dependent, like his lords, on serfs to work the land; in the autumn of 1348, the Black Plague reached England and decimated the population.[8] The severe shortage of labor caused wages to soar and encouraged King Edward III to set a wage ceiling. Subsequent amendments to the ordinance, such as the Statute of Labourers (1351), increased the penalties for paying a wage above the set rates.[6]

While the laws governing wages initially set a ceiling on compensation, they were eventually used to set a living wage. An amendment to the Statute of Labourers in 1389 effectively fixed wages to the price of food, as time passed, the Justice of the Peace, who was charged with setting the maximum wage, also began to set formal minimum wages. The practice was eventually formalized with the passage of the Act Fixing a Minimum Wage in 1604 by King James I for workers in the textile industry.[6]

It was not until the 1890s that the first modern legislative attempts to regulate minimum wages were seen in New Zealand and Australia,[9] the movement for a minimum wage was initially focused on stopping sweatshop labor and controlling the proliferation of sweatshops in manufacturing industries.[10] The sweatshops employed large numbers of women and young workers, paying them what were considered to be substandard wages, the sweatshop owners were thought to have unfair bargaining power over their employees, and a minimum wage was proposed as a means to make them pay fairly. Over time, the focus changed to helping people, especially families, become more self-sufficient.[11]

The first modern national minimum wage law was enacted by the government of New Zealand in 1894, followed by Australia in 1896 and the United Kingdom in 1909;[9] in the United States, statutory minimum wages were first introduced nationally in 1938,[14] and they were reintroduced and expanded in the United Kingdom in 1998.[15] There is now legislation or binding collective bargaining regarding minimum wage in more than 90 percent of all countries;[16][5] in the European Union, 22 member states out of 28 currently have national minimum wages.[17] Other countries, such as Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy, have no minimum wage laws, but rely on employer groups and trade unions to set minimum earnings through collective bargaining.[18][19]

Minimum wage rates vary greatly across many different jurisdictions, not only in setting a particular amount of money—for example $7.25 per hour ($14,500 per year) under certain US state laws (or $2.13 for employees who receive tips, which is known as the tipped minimum wage), $9.47 in the US state of Washington,[20] or £7.50 (for those aged 25+) in the United Kingdom[21]—but also in terms of which pay period (for example Russia and China set monthly minimum wages) or the scope of coverage. Currently the American federal minimum wage rests at seven dollars, twenty-five cents ($7.25) per hour. However, some states do not recognize the minimum wage law such as Louisiana and Tennessee.[22] Other states operate below the federal minimum wage such as Georgia and Wyoming, some jurisdictions even allow employers to count tips given to their workers as credit towards the minimum wage levels. India was one of the first developing countries to introduce minimum wage policy, it also has one of the most complicated systems with more than 1,200 minimum wage rates.[23]

Customs and extra-legal pressures from governments or labor unions can produce a de facto minimum wage. So can international public opinion, by pressuring multinational companies to pay Third World workers wages usually found in more industrialized countries, the latter situation in Southeast Asia and Latin America was publicized in the 2000s, but it existed with companies in West Africa in the middle of the twentieth century.[24]

Among the indicators that might be used to establish an initial minimum wage rate are ones that minimize the loss of jobs while preserving international competitiveness,[25] among these are general economic conditions as measured by real and nominal gross domestic product; inflation; labor supply and demand; wage levels, distribution and differentials; employment terms; productivity growth; labor costs; business operating costs; the number and trend of bankruptcies; economic freedom rankings; standards of living and the prevailing average wage rate.

In the business sector, concerns include the expected increased cost of doing business, threats to profitability, rising levels of unemployment (and subsequent higher government expenditure on welfare benefits raising tax rates), and the possible knock-on effects to the wages of more experienced workers who might already be earning the new statutory minimum wage, or slightly more.[26] Among workers and their representatives, political consideration weigh in as labor leaders seek to win support by demanding the highest possible rate.[27] Other concerns include purchasing power, inflation indexing and standardized working hours.

According to the supply and demand model of the labor market shown in many economics textbooks, increasing the minimum wage decreases the employment of minimum-wage workers.[33] One such textbook states:[34]

If a higher minimum wage increases the wage rates of unskilled workers above the level that would be established by market forces, the quantity of unskilled workers employed will fall, the minimum wage will price the services of the least productive (and therefore lowest-wage) workers out of the market. … the direct results of minimum wage legislation are clearly mixed. Some workers, most likely those whose previous wages were closest to the minimum, will enjoy higher wages. Others, particularly those with the lowest prelegislation wage rates, will be unable to find work, they will be pushed into the ranks of the unemployed.

A firm's cost is an increasing function of the wage rate, the higher the wage rate, the fewer hours an employer will demand of employees, this is because, as the wage rate rises, it becomes more expensive for firms to hire workers and so firms hire fewer workers (or hire them for fewer hours). The demand of labor curve is therefore shown as a line moving down and to the right,[35] since higher wages increase the quantity supplied, the supply of labor curve is upward sloping, and is shown as a line moving up and to the right.[35] If no minimum wage is in place, wages will adjust until quantity of labor demanded is equal to quantity supplied, reaching equilibrium, where the supply and demand curves intersect. Minimum wage behaves as a classical price floor on labor. Standard theory says that, if set above the equilibrium price, more labor will be willing to be provided by workers than will be demanded by employers, creating a surplus of labor, i.e. unemployment.[35] The basic economic model of markets predicts the same of other commodities (like milk and wheat, for example): Artificially raising the price of the commodity tends to cause the supply of it to increase and the demand for it to lessen, the result is a surplus of the commodity. When there is a wheat surplus, the government buys it, since the government does not hire surplus labor, the labor surplus takes the form of unemployment, which tends to be higher with minimum wage laws than without them.[24]

The basic supply and demand model implies that by mandating a price floor above the equilibrium wage, minimum wage laws should cause unemployment,[36][37] this is because a greater number of people are willing to work at the higher wage while a smaller number of jobs will be available at the higher wage. Companies can be more selective in those whom they employ thus the least skilled and least experienced will typically be excluded. An imposition or increase of a minimum wage will generally only affect employment in the low-skill labor market, as the equilibrium wage is already at or below the minimum wage, whereas in higher skill labor markets the equilibrium wage is too high for a change in minimum wage to affect employment.[38]

The basic supply and demand theory predicts that raising the minimum wage helps workers whose wages are raised, and hurts people who are not hired (or lose their jobs) when companies cut back on employment, but proponents of the minimum wage hold that the situation is much more complicated than the basic theory can account for. One complicating factor is possible monopsony in the labor market, whereby the individual employer has some market power in determining wages paid, thus it is at least theoretically possible that the minimum wage may boost employment when affected employees spend more in other sectors of the economy. Though single employer market power is unlikely to exist in most labor markets in the sense of the traditional 'company town,' asymmetric information, imperfect mobility, and the personal element of the labor transaction give some degree of wage-setting power to most firms.[39]

Modern economic theory predicts that although an excessive minimum wage may raise unemployment as it fixes a price above most demand for labor, a minimum wage at a more reasonable level can increase employment, and enhance growth and efficiency, this is because labor markets are monopsonistic and workers persistently lack bargaining power. When poorer workers have more to spend it stimulates effective aggregate demand for goods and services.[40][41]

The argument that a minimum wage decreases employment is based on a simple supply and demand model of the labor market. A number of economists (for example Pierangelo Garegnani,[42] Robert L. Vienneau,[43] and Arrigo Opocher & Ian Steedman[44]), building on the work of Piero Sraffa, argue that that model, even given all its assumptions, is logically incoherent. Michael Anyadike-Danes and Wynne Godley[45] argue, based on simulation results, that little of the empirical work done with the textbook model constitutes a potentially falsifiable theory, and consequently empirical evidence hardly exists for that model. Graham White[46] argues, partially on the basis of Sraffianism, that the policy of increased labor market flexibility, including the reduction of minimum wages, does not have an "intellectually coherent" argument in economic theory.

Gary Fields, Professor of Labor Economics and Economics at Cornell University, argues that the standard textbook model for the minimum wage is ambiguous, and that the standard theoretical arguments incorrectly measure only a one-sector market. Fields says a two-sector market, where "the self-employed, service workers, and farm workers are typically excluded from minimum-wage coverage... [and with] one sector with minimum-wage coverage and the other without it [and possible mobility between the two]," is the basis for better analysis. Through this model, Fields shows the typical theoretical argument to be ambiguous and says "the predictions derived from the textbook model definitely do not carry over to the two-sector case. Therefore, since a non-covered sector exists nearly everywhere, the predictions of the textbook model simply cannot be relied on."[47]

An alternate view of the labor market has low-wage labor markets characterized as monopsonistic competition wherein buyers (employers) have significantly more market power than do sellers (workers), this monopsony could be a result of intentional collusion between employers, or naturalistic factors such as segmented markets, search costs, information costs, imperfect mobility and the personal element of labor markets.[citation needed] In such a case a simple supply and demand graph would not yield the quantity of labor clearing and the wage rate, this is because while the upward sloping aggregate labor supply would remain unchanged, instead of using the upward labor supply curve shown in a supply and demand diagram, monopsonistic employers would use a steeper upward sloping curve corresponding to marginal expenditures to yield the intersection with the supply curve resulting in a wage rate lower than would be the case under competition. Also, the amount of labor sold would also be lower than the competitive optimal allocation.

Such a case is a type of market failure and results in workers being paid less than their marginal value. Under the monopsonistic assumption, an appropriately set minimum wage could increase both wages and employment, with the optimal level being equal to the marginal product of labor,[48] this view emphasizes the role of minimum wages as a market regulation policy akin to antitrust policies, as opposed to an illusory "free lunch" for low-wage workers.

Another reason minimum wage may not affect employment in certain industries is that the demand for the product the employees produce is highly inelastic,[49] for example, if management is forced to increase wages, management can pass on the increase in wage to consumers in the form of higher prices. Since demand for the product is highly inelastic, consumers continue to buy the product at the higher price and so the manager is not forced to lay off workers. Economist Paul Krugman argues this explanation neglects to explain why the firm was not charging this higher price absent the minimum wage.[50]

Three other possible reasons minimum wages do not affect employment were suggested by Alan Blinder: higher wages may reduce turnover, and hence training costs; raising the minimum wage may "render moot" the potential problem of recruiting workers at a higher wage than current workers; and minimum wage workers might represent such a small proportion of a business's cost that the increase is too small to matter. He admits that he does not know if these are correct, but argues that "the list demonstrates that one can accept the new empirical findings and still be a card-carrying economist."[51]

Estimated minimum wage effects on employment from a meta-study of 64 other studies showed insignificant employment effect (both practically and statistically) from minimum-wage raises. The most precise estimates were heavily clustered at or near zero employment effects (elasticity = 0).[52]

Until the mid-1990s, a general consensus existed among economists, both conservative and liberal, that the minimum wage reduced employment, especially among younger and low-skill workers;[33] in addition to the basic supply-demand intuition, there were a number of empirical studies that supported this view. For example, Gramlich (1976) found that many of the benefits went to higher income families, and that teenagers were made worse off by the unemployment associated with the minimum wage.[53]

Brown et al. (1983) noted that time series studies to that point had found that for a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage, there was a decrease in teenage employment of 1–3 percent. However, the studies found wider variation, from 0 to over 3 percent, in their estimates for the effect on teenage unemployment (teenagers without a job and looking for one); in contrast to the simple supply and demand diagram, it was commonly found that teenagers withdrew from the labor force in response to the minimum wage, which produced the possibility of equal reductions in the supply as well as the demand for labor at a higher minimum wage and hence no impact on the unemployment rate. Using a variety of specifications of the employment and unemployment equations (using ordinary least squares vs. generalized least squaresregression procedures, and linear vs. logarithmic specifications), they found that a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage caused a 1 percent decrease in teenage employment, and no change in the teenage unemployment rate. The study also found a small, but statistically significant, increase in unemployment for adults aged 20–24.[54]

CBO table illustrating projections of the effects of minimum wage increases on employment and income, under two scenarios

Wellington (1991) updated Brown et al.'s research with data through 1986 to provide new estimates encompassing a period when the real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) value of the minimum wage was declining, because it had not increased since 1981. She found that a 10% increase in the minimum wage decreased the absolute teenage employment by 0.6%, with no effect on the teen or young adult unemployment rates.[55]

Some research suggests that the unemployment effects of small minimum wage increases are dominated by other factors;[56] in Florida, where voters approved an increase in 2004, a follow-up comprehensive study after the increase confirmed a strong economy with increased employment above previous years in Florida and better than in the US as a whole.[57] When it comes to on-the-job training, some believe the increase in wages is taken out of training expenses. A 2001 empirical study found that there is "no evidence that minimum wages reduce training, and little evidence that they tend to increase training."[58]

Some empirical studies have tried to ascertain the benefits of a minimum wage beyond employment effects; in an analysis of census data, Joseph Sabia and Robert Nielson found no statistically significant evidence that minimum wage increases helped reduce financial, housing, health, or food insecurity.[59] This study was undertaken by the Employment Policies Institute, a think tank funded by the food, beverage and hospitality industries; in 2012, Michael Reich published an economic analysis that suggested that a proposed minimum wage hike in San Diego might stimulate the city's economy by about $190 million.[60]

The Economist wrote in December 2013: "A minimum wage, providing it is not set too high, could thus boost pay with no ill effects on jobs....America's federal minimum wage, at 38% of median income, is one of the rich world's lowest, some studies find no harm to employment from federal or state minimum wages, others see a small one, but none finds any serious damage. ... High minimum wages, however, particularly in rigid labour markets, do appear to hit employment. France has the rich world’s highest wage floor, at more than 60% of the median for adults and a far bigger fraction of the typical wage for the young, this helps explain why France also has shockingly high rates of youth unemployment: 26% for 15- to 24-year-olds."[61]

In 1992, the minimum wage in New Jersey increased from $4.25 to $5.05 per hour (an 18.8% increase), while in the adjacent state of Pennsylvania it remained at $4.25. David Card and Alan Krueger gathered information on fast food restaurants in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania in an attempt to see what effect this increase had on employment within New Jersey. A basic supply and demand model predicts that relative employment should have decreased in New Jersey. Card and Krueger surveyed employers before the April 1992 New Jersey increase, and again in November–December 1992, asking managers for data on the full-time equivalent staff level of their restaurants both times.[62] Based on data from the employers' responses, the authors concluded that the increase in the minimum wage slightly increased employment in the New Jersey restaurants.[62]

Card and Krueger expanded on this initial article in their 1995 book Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage.[63] They argued that the negative employment effects of minimum wage laws are minimal if not non-existent, for example, they look at the 1992 increase in New Jersey's minimum wage, the 1988 rise in California's minimum wage, and the 1990–91 increases in the federal minimum wage. In addition to their own findings, they reanalyzed earlier studies with updated data, generally finding that the older results of a negative employment effect did not hold up in the larger datasets.[64]

A 2010 study published in the Review of Economics and Statistics compared 288 pairs of contiguous U.S. counties with minimum wage differentials from 1990 to 2006 and found no adverse employment effects from a minimum wage increase. Contiguous counties with different minimum wages are in purple. All other counties are in white.[65]

In 1996, David Neumark and William Wascher reexamined Card and Krueger's result using administrative payroll records from a sample of large fast food restaurant chains, and reported that minimum wage increases were followed by decreases in employment. An assessment of data collected and analyzed by Neumark and Wascher did not initially contradict the Card and Krueger results,[66] but in a later edited version they found a four percent decrease in employment, and reported that "the estimated disemployment effects in the payroll data are often statistically significant at the 5- or 10-percent level although there are some estimators and subsamples that yield insignificant—although almost always negative" employment effects.[67][68] Neumark and Wascher's conclusions were subsequently rebutted in a 2000 paper by Card and Krueger.[69] A 2011 paper has reconciled the difference between Card and Krueger's survey data and Neumark and Wascher's payroll-based data, the paper shows that both datasets evidence conditional employment effects that are positive for small restaurants, but are negative for large fast-food restaurants.[70]

In 1996 and 1997, the federal minimum wage was increased from $4.25 to $5.15, thereby increasing the minimum wage by $0.90 in Pennsylvania but by just $0.10 in New Jersey; this allowed for an examination of the effects of minimum wage increases in the same area, subsequent to the 1992 change studied by Card and Krueger. A study by Hoffman and Trace found the result anticipated by traditional theory: a detrimental effect on employment.[71]

Further application of the methodology used by Card and Krueger by other researchers yielded results similar to their original findings, across additional data sets.[72] A 2010 study by three economists (Arindrajit Dube of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, William Lester of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Michael Reich of the University of California, Berkeley), compared adjacent counties in different states where the minimum wage had been raised in one of the states, they analyzed employment trends for several categories of low-wage workers from 1990 to 2006 and found that increases in minimum wages had no negative effects on low-wage employment and successfully increased the income of workers in food services and retail employment, as well as the narrower category of workers in restaurants.[72][73]

However, a 2011 study by Baskaya and Rubinstein of Brown University found that at the federal level, "a rise in minimum wage have [sic] an instantaneous impact on wage rates and a corresponding negative impact on employment", stating, "Minimum wage increases boost teenage wage rates and reduce teenage employment."[74] Another 2011 study by Sen, Rybczynski, and Van De Waal found that "a 10% increase in the minimum wage is significantly correlated with a 3−5% drop in teen employment."[75] A 2012 study by Sabia, Hansen, and Burkhauser found that "minimum wage increases can have substantial adverse labor demand effects for low-skilled individuals", with the largest effects on those aged 16 to 24.[76]

A 2013 study by Meer and West concluded that "the minimum wage reduces net job growth, primarily through its effect on job creation by expanding establishments ... most pronounced for younger workers and in industries with a higher proportion of low-wage workers."[77] This study by Meer and West was later critiqued for its trends of assumption in the context of narrowly defined low-wage groups,[78] the authors replied to the critiques and released additional data which addressed the criticism of their methodology, but did not resolve the issue of whether their data showed a causal relationship.[79][80] Another 2013 study by Suzana Laporšek of the University of Primorska, on youth unemployment in Europe claimed there was "a negative, statistically significant impact of minimum wage on youth employment."[81] A 2013 study by labor economists Tony Fang and Carl Lin which studied minimum wages and employment in China, found that "minimum wage changes have significant adverse effects on employment in the Eastern and Central regions of China, and result in disemployment for females, young adults, and low-skilled workers".[82][83]

Several researchers have conducted statistical meta-analyses of the employment effects of the minimum wage; in 1995, Card and Krueger analyzed 14 earlier time-series studies on minimum wages and concluded that there was clear evidence of publication bias (in favor of studies that found a statistically significant negative employment effect). They point out that later studies, which had more data and lower standard errors, did not show the expected increase in t-statistic (almost all the studies had a t-statistic of about two, just above the level of statistical significance at the .05 level).[84] Though a serious methodological indictment, opponents of the minimum wage largely ignored this issue; as Thomas Leonard noted, "The silence is fairly deafening."[85]

In 2005, T.D. Stanley showed that Card and Krueger's results could signify either publication bias or the absence of a minimum wage effect. However, using a different methodology, Stanley concluded that there is evidence of publication bias and that correction of this bias shows no relationship between the minimum wage and unemployment;[86] in 2008, Hristos Doucouliagos and T.D. Stanley conducted a similar meta-analysis of 64 U.S. studies on disemployment effects and concluded that Card and Krueger's initial claim of publication bias is still correct. Moreover, they concluded, "Once this publication selection is corrected, little or no evidence of a negative association between minimum wages and employment remains."[87] In 2013, a meta-analysis of 16 UK studies found that the minimum wage has no significant effects on employment.[88] A 2014 meta-analysis found that the minimum wage reduces employment among teenagers.[89]

Minimum wage laws affect workers in most low-paid fields of employment[11] and have usually been judged against the criterion of reducing poverty.[90] Minimum wage laws receive less support from economists than from the general public, despite decades of experience and economic research, debates about the costs and benefits of minimum wages continue today.[11]

Various groups have great ideological, political, financial, and emotional investments in issues surrounding minimum wage laws, for example, agencies that administer the laws have a vested interest in showing that "their" laws do not create unemployment, as do labor unions whose members' finances are protected by minimum wage laws. On the other side of the issue, low-wage employers such as restaurants finance the Employment Policies Institute, which has released numerous studies opposing the minimum wage,[91][92] the presence of these powerful groups and factors means that the debate on the issue is not always based on dispassionate analysis. Additionally, it is extraordinarily difficult to separate the effects of minimum wage from all the other variables that affect employment.[24]

The following table summarizes the arguments made by those for and against minimum wage laws:

Increases the standard of living for the poorest and most vulnerable class in society and raises average.[98]

Increases incentives to take jobs, as opposed to other methods of transferring income to the poor that are not tied to employment (such as food subsidies for the poor or welfare payments for the unemployed).[99]

Stimulates consumption, by putting more money in the hands of low-income people who spend their entire paychecks. Hence increases circulation of money through the economy.[98]

Increases technological development. Costly technology that increases business efficiency is more appealing as the price of labor increases.[103]

Increases the work ethic of those who earn very little, as employers demand more return from the higher cost of hiring these employees.[98]

Decreases the cost of government social welfare programs by increasing incomes for the lowest-paid.[98]

Encourages people to join the workforce rather than pursuing money through illegal means, e.g., selling illegal drugs[104][105]

Opponents of the minimum wage claim it has these effects:

Minimum wage alone is not effective at alleviating poverty, and in fact produces a net increase in poverty due to disemployment effects.[106]

As a labor market analogue of political-economic protectionism, it excludes low cost competitors from labor markets and hampers firms in reducing wage costs during trade downturns. This generates various industrial-economic inefficiencies.[107]

Increases property crime and misery in poor communities by decreasing legal markets of production and consumption in those communities;[115]

Can result in the exclusion of certain groups (ethnic, gender etc.) from the labor force.[116]

Small firms with limited payroll budgets cannot offer their most valuable employees fair and attractive wages above unskilled workers paid the artificially high minimum, and see a rising hurdle-cost of adding workers.[108]

Is less effective than other methods (e.g. the Earned Income Tax Credit) at reducing poverty, and is more damaging to businesses than those other methods.[117]

Discourages further education among the poor by enticing people to enter the job market.[117]

Discriminates against, through pricing out, less qualified workers (including newcomers to the labor market, e.g. young workers) by keeping them from accumulating work experience and qualifications, hence potentially graduating to higher wages later.[3]

Results in higher prices for consumers, where products and services are produced by minimum-wage workers[119] (though non-labor costs represent a greater proportion of costs to consumers in industries like fast food and discount retail)[120][121]

A widely circulated argument that the minimum wage was ineffective at reducing poverty was provided by George Stigler in 1949:

Employment may fall more than in proportion to the wage increase, thereby reducing overall earnings;

As uncovered sectors of the economy absorb workers released from the covered sectors, the decrease in wages in the uncovered sectors may exceed the increase in wages in the covered ones;

The impact of the minimum wage on family income distribution may be negative unless the fewer but better jobs are allocated to members of needy families rather than to, for example, teenagers from families not in poverty;

Forbidding employers to pay less than a legal minimum is equivalent to forbidding workers to sell their labor for less than the minimum wage. The legal restriction that employers cannot pay less than a legislated wage is equivalent to the legal restriction that workers cannot work at all in the protected sector unless they can find employers willing to hire them at that wage.[90]

In 2006, the International Labour Organization (ILO) argued that the minimum wage could not be directly linked to unemployment in countries that have suffered job losses.[5] In April 2010, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released a report arguing that countries could alleviate teen unemployment by "lowering the cost of employing low-skilled youth" through a sub-minimum training wage.[122] A study of U.S. states showed that businesses' annual and average payrolls grow faster and employment grew at a faster rate in states with a minimum wage.[123] The study showed a correlation, but did not claim to prove causation.

Although strongly opposed by both the business community and the Conservative Party when introduced in the UK in 1999, the Conservatives reversed their opposition in 2000.[124] Accounts differ as to the effects of the minimum wage, the Centre for Economic Performance found no discernible impact on employment levels from the wage increases,[125] while the Low Pay Commission found that employers had reduced their rate of hiring and employee hours employed, and found ways to cause current workers to be more productive (especially service companies).[126] The Institute for the Study of Labor found prices in the minimum wage sector rose significantly faster than prices in non-minimum wage sectors, in the four years following the implementation of the minimum wage.[127] Neither trade unions nor employer organizations contest the minimum wage, although the latter had especially done so heavily until 1999.

In 2014, supporters of minimum wage cited a study that found that job creation within the United States is faster in states that raised their minimum wages.[96][128][129] In 2014, supporters of minimum wage cited news organizations who reported the state with the highest minimum-wage garnered more job creation than the rest of the United States.[96][97][130][131][132][133][134]

In 2014, in Seattle, Washington, liberal and progressive business owners who had supported the city's new $15 minimum wage said they might hold off on expanding their businesses and thus creating new jobs, due to the uncertain timescale of the wage increase implementation.[135] However, subsequently at least two of the business owners quoted did expand.[136][137]

The dollar value of the minimum wage loses purchasing power over time due to inflation. Minimum wage laws, for instance proposals to index the minimum wage to average wages, have the potential to keep the dollar value of the minimum wage relevant and predictable.[138]

With regard to the economic effects of introducing minimum wage legislation in Germany in January 2015, recent developments have shown that the feared increase in unemployment has not materialized, however, in some economic sectors and regions of the country, it came to a decline in job opportunities particularly for temporary and part-time workers, and some low-wage jobs have disappeared entirely,[139] because of this overall positive development, the Deutsche Bundesbank revised its opinion, and ascertained that “the impact of the introduction of the minimum wage on the total volume of work appears to be very limited in the present business cycle”.[140]

According to a 1978 article in the American Economic Review, 90% of the economists surveyed agreed that the minimum wage increases unemployment among low-skilled workers.[141] By 1992 the survey found 79% of economists in agreement with that statement,[142] and by 2000, 45.6% were in full agreement with the statement and 27.9% agreed with provisos (73.5% total).[143][144] The authors of the 2000 study also reweighted data from a 1990 sample to show that at that time 62.4% of academic economists agreed with the statement above, while 19.5% agreed with provisos and 17.5% disagreed. They state that the reduction on consensus on this question is "likely" due to the Card and Krueger research and subsequent debate.[145]

A similar survey in 2006 by Robert Whaples polled PhD members of the American Economic Association (AEA). Whaples found that 46.8% respondents wanted the minimum wage eliminated, 37.7% supported an increase, 14.3% wanted it kept at the current level, and 1.3% wanted it decreased.[146] Another survey in 2007 conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center found that 73% of labor economists surveyed in the United States believed 150% of the then-current minimum wage would result in employment losses and 68% believed a mandated minimum wage would cause an increase in hiring of workers with greater skills. 31% felt that no hiring changes would result.[147]

Surveys of labor economists have found a sharp split on the minimum wage. Fuchs et al. (1998) polled labor economists at the top 40 research universities in the United States on a variety of questions in the summer of 1996. Their 65 respondents were nearly evenly divided when asked if the minimum wage should be increased, they argued that the different policy views were not related to views on whether raising the minimum wage would reduce teen employment (the median economist said there would be a reduction of 1%), but on value differences such as income redistribution.[148]Daniel B. Klein and Stewart Dompe conclude, on the basis of previous surveys, "the average level of support for the minimum wage is somewhat higher among labor economists than among AEA members."[149]

In 2007, Klein and Dompe conducted a non-anonymous survey of supporters of the minimum wage who had signed the "Raise the Minimum Wage" statement published by the Economic Policy Institute. 95 of the 605 signatories responded. They found that a majority signed on the grounds that it transferred income from employers to workers, or equalized bargaining power between them in the labor market; in addition, a majority considered disemployment to be a moderate potential drawback to the increase they supported.[149]

In 2013, a diverse group of 37 economics professors was surveyed on their view of the minimum wage's impact on employment. 34% of respondents agreed with the statement, "Raising the federal minimum wage to $9 per hour would make it noticeably harder for low-skilled workers to find employment." 32% disagreed and the remaining respondents were uncertain or had no opinion on the question. 47% agreed with the statement, "The distortionary costs of raising the federal minimum wage to $9 per hour and indexing it to inflation are sufficiently small compared with the benefits to low-skilled workers who can find employment that this would be a desirable policy", while 11% disagreed.[150]

Economists and other political commentators have proposed alternatives to the minimum wage, they argue that these alternatives may address the issue of poverty better than a minimum wage, as it would benefit a broader population of low wage earners, not cause any unemployment, and distribute the costs widely rather than concentrating it on employers of low wage workers.

A basic income (or negative income tax) is a system of social security that periodically provides each citizen with a sum of money that is sufficient to live on frugally. It is argued that recipients of the basic income would have considerably more bargaining power when negotiating a wage with an employer as there would be no risk of destitution for not taking the employment, as a result, the jobseeker could spend more time looking for a more appropriate or satisfying job, or they could wait until a higher-paying job appeared. Alternatively, they could spend more time increasing their skills in university, which would make them more suitable for higher-paying jobs, as well as provide numerous other benefits. Experiments on Basic Income and NIT in Canada and the USA show that people spent more time studying while the program was running.[151]

Proponents argue that a basic income that is based on a broad tax base would be more economically efficient, as the minimum wage effectively imposes a high marginal tax on employers, causing losses in efficiency.[citation needed]

A refundable tax credit is a mechanism whereby the tax system can reduce the tax owed by a household to below zero, and result in a net payment to the taxpayer beyond their own payments into the tax system. Examples of refundable tax credits include the earned income tax credit and the additional child tax credit in the US, and working tax credits and child tax credits in the UK. Such a system is slightly different from a negative income tax, in that the refundable tax credit is usually only paid to households that have earned at least some income, this policy is more targeted against poverty than the minimum wage, because it avoids subsidizing low-income workers who are supported by high-income households (for example, teenagers still living with their parents).[153]

In the United States, earned income tax credit rates, also known as EITC or EIC, vary by state—some are refundable while other states do not allow a refundable tax credit,[154] the federal EITC program has been expanded by a number of presidents including Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton;[155] in 1986, President Reagan described the EITC as "the best anti poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress."[156] The ability of the earned income tax credit to deliver larger monetary benefits to the poor workers than an increase in the minimum wage and at a lower cost to society was documented in a 2007 report by the Congressional Budget Office.[157]

The Adam Smith Institute prefers cutting taxes on the poor and middle class instead of raising wages as an alternative to the minimum wage.[158]

Italy, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark are examples of developed nations where there is no minimum wage that is required by legislation,[17][19] such nations, particularly the Nordics, have very high union participation rates.[159] Instead, minimum wage standards in different sectors are set by collective bargaining.[160]

Some economists such as Scott Sumner[161] and Edmund Phelps[162] advocate a wage subsidy program. A wage subsidy is a payment made by a government for work people do, it is based either on an hourly basis or by income earned. Advocates argue that the primary deficiencies of the EITC and the minimum wage are best avoided by a wage subsidy.[163][164] However, the wage subsidy in America suffers from a lack of political support from either major political party.[165][166]

Reactions from former McDonald's USA Ed Rensi about raising minimum wage to $15 is to completely push humans out of the picture when it comes to labor if they are to pay minimum wage at $15 they would look into replacing humans with machines as that would be the more cost-effective than having employees that are ineffective, during an interview on FOX Business Network’s Mornings with Maria, he stated that he believes an increase to $15 an hour would cause job loss at an extraordinary level. Rensi also believes it does not only affect the fast food industry, franchising he sees as the best business model in the United States, it is dependent on people that have low job skills that have to grow and if you cannot pay them a reasonable wage then they are going to be replaced with machines[172]

In late March 2016, Governor of California Jerry Brown reached a deal to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2022 for big businesses and 2023 for smaller businesses.[173]

In contrast, the relatively high minimum wage in Puerto Rico has been blamed by various politicians and commentators as a highly significant factor in the Puerto Rican government-debt crisis.[174][175][176] One study concluded that "Employers are disinclined to hire workers because the US federal minimum wage is very high relative to the local average".[177]

^e.g. DE Card and AB Krueger, Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage (1995) and S Machin and A Manning, ‘Minimum wages and economic outcomes in Europe’ (1997) 41 European Economic Review 733

^"Will have only negative effects on the distribution of economic justice. Minimum-wage legislation, by its very nature, benefits some at the expense of the least experienced, least productive, and poorest workers." (Cato)

Timeline of labor issues and events
–
Timeline of organized labor history 16191619 Jamestown Polish craftsmen strike 1636 Maine Indentured Servants and Fishermans Mutiny. 1648 Boston Coopers and Shoemakers form guilds,1677 New York City Carters Strike. 1684 New York City Carters Strike,1741 New York City Bakers Strike. 1774 Hibernia, New Jersey, Ironworks Strike,1778 Journeymen printer

1.
The Burning of Jamestown by Howard Pyle depicts the burning of Jamestown, Virginia during Bacon's Rebellion (1676–77).

2.
Frame-breakers, or Luddites, smashing a loom. Machine-breaking was criminalized by the Parliament of the United Kingdom as early as 1721, but as a result of continued opposition to mechanisation the Frame-Breaking Act 1812 made the death penalty available: see "Criminal damage in English law".

3.
Women in England mourning their lovers who are soon to be transported to Botany Bay, 1792

4.
1836 Constitution of the Lowell Factory Girls Association

Proletariat
–
The proletariat is a term for the class of wage-earners, in a capitalist society, whose only possession of significant material value is their labor-power, a member of such a class is a proletarian. The proletarii constituted a class of Roman citizens owning little or no property. This assembly, which met on the Campus Martius to discuss public pol

2.
A 1911 Industrial Worker publication advocating industrial unionism based on a critique of capitalism. The proletariat "work for all" and "feed all".

Socialism
–
Social ownership may refer to forms of public, collective, or cooperative ownership, to citizen ownership of equity, or to any combination of these. Although there are varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them. Socialist economic systems can be divided into both non-market and market forms, non-market social

Syndicalism
–
Syndicalism is a proposed type of economic system, considered a replacement for capitalism. It suggests that workers, industries, and organisations be systematized into confederations or syndicates and it is a system of economic organization in which industries are owned and managed by the workers. Its theory and practice is the advocacy of multipl

1.
Syndicalism

Anarcho-syndicalism
–
The basic principles of anarcho-syndicalism are solidarity, direct action and direct democracy, or workers self-management. The end goal of anarcho-syndicalism is to abolish the wage system, Anarcho-syndicalist theory therefore generally focuses on the labour movement. Reflecting the anarchist philosophy from which it draws its primary inspiration,

Child labour
–
This practice is considered exploitative by many international organisations. Legislation across the world prohibit child labour, Child labour has existed to varying extents, through most of history. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many children aged 5–14 from poorer families still worked in Europe and these children mainly worked in agri

1.
Early 20th century witnessed many home-based enterprises involving child labour. An example is shown above from New York, USA (1912).

2.
A succession of laws on child labour, the so-called Factory Acts, were passed in Britain in the 19th century. Children younger than nine were not allowed to work, those aged 9–16 could work 16 hours per day per Cotton Mills Act. In 1856, the law permitted child labour past age 9, for 60 hours per week, night or day. In 1901, the permissible child labour age was raised to 12.

4.
Children going to a 12-hour night shift in the United States (1908).

Eight-hour day
–
The use of child labour was common. The working day could range from 10 to 16 hours for six days a week, robert Owen had raised the demand for a ten-hour day in 1810, and instituted it in his socialist enterprise at New Lanark. By 1817 he had formulated the goal of the day and coined the slogan, Eight hours labour, Eight hours recreation. Women and

3.
Eight-hour day march circa 1900, outside Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne.

4.
Eight-hour day banner, Melbourne, 1856

Collective bargaining
–
The interests of the employees are commonly presented by representatives of a trade union to which the employees belong. The union may negotiate with an employer or may negotiate with a group of businesses, depending on the country. A collective agreement functions as a contract between an employer and one or more unions. The parties often refer to

1.
Beatrice Webb in 1894

Occupational safety and health
–
These terms of course also refer to the goals of this field, so their use in the sense of this article was originally an abbreviation of occupational safety and health program/department etc. The goals of occupational safety and health programs include to foster a safe, OSH may also protect co-workers, family members, employers, customers, and many

1.
This painting depicts a woman examining her work on a lathe at a factory in Britain during World War II. Her eyes are not protected. Today, such practice would not be permitted in most industrialized countries that adhere to strong occupational health and safety standards for workers. In many countries, such standards are either weak or nonexistent, or poorly enforced.

2.
Workers cutting marble without any protective gear, Indore, India

3.
Harry McShane, age 16, 1908. Pulled into machinery in a factory in Cincinnati and had his arm ripped off at the shoulder and his leg broken without any compensation.

4.
Workplace safety notices at the entrance of a Chinese construction site.

Trade union
–
The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or unions is maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment and this may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules g

International Trade Union Confederation
–
The International Trade Union Confederation is the worlds largest trade union federation. It was formed on 1 November 2006, out of the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, the Founding Congress of the ITUC was held in Vienna and was preceded by the dissolution congresses of both the ICFTU and the WCL. The ITUC represents

1.
ITUC

World Federation of Trade Unions
–
The World Federation of Trade Unions was established in 1945 to replace the International Federation of Trade Unions. Its mission was to bring together trade unions across the world in a international organization. In the context of the Cold War, the WFTU was often portrayed as a Soviet front organization, a number of those unions, including those

1.
World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU)

Strike action
–
Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances, Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labor became important in factories and mines. In most countries, strike acti

3.
Agitated workers face the factory owner in The Strike, painted by Robert Koehler in 1886

4.
A rally of the trade union UNISON in Oxford during a strike on 2006-03-28.

List of strikes
–
The following is a list of specific strikes and general strikes. Diamond Workers Strike St. Louis Streetcar Strike of 1900 Anthracite Coal Strike Machinists Strike Penrhyn Quarry strike Australian Workers strike U. S. S. J. S. L. E. F, inspired the film The Rank and File. National Student Campus Strike also related to Kent State Shootings Salad Bow

1.
Bodies immediately after the Lena massacre of striking goldfield workers in 1912

General strike
–
A general strike is a strike action in which a substantial proportion of the total labour force in a city, region, or country participates. General strikes are characterised by the participation of workers in a multitude of workplaces, General strikes first occurred in the mid-19th century, and have characterised many historically important strikes

Australian Labor Party
–
The Australian Labor Party is a political party in Australia. The party has been in opposition at federal level since the 2013 election, Bill Shorten has been the partys federal parliamentary leader since 13 October 2013. The party is a party with branches in each state. Labor is in government in the states of Victoria, Queensland, Western Australi

Labour Party (UK)
–
The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon

1.
Keir Hardie, one of the Labour Party's founders and its first leader

Labour Party (Netherlands)
–
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1946 as a merger of the Social Democratic Workers Party, the Free-thinking Democratic League, Prime Ministers from the Labour Party have been Willem Drees, Joop den Uyl, and Wim Kok. Since 2012, the PvdA is the partner in the Second Rutte cabinet wi

Labour Party (Ireland)
–
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. Unlike the other main Irish political parties, Labour did not arise as a faction of the original Sinn Féin party. This gives Labour a cumulative total of nineteen years served as part of a government, the current party leader is Brendan Howlin. It is currently the f

Israeli Labor Party
–
The Israeli Labor Party, commonly known as HaAvoda, is a social democratic and Zionist political party in Israel. The Israeli Labor Party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda, until 1977, all Israeli Prime Ministers were affiliated with the Labor movement. The current party leader since 2013 is Isaac Herzog, the Labor Party i

1.
Labor party ballot: Emet

New Zealand Labour Party
–
The New Zealand Labour Party, or simply Labour, is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. With its historic rival, the New Zealand National Party, Labour has dominated New Zealand governments since the 1930s, Labour currently promotes a social-democratic platform. It is a participant of the international Progressive Alliance, the New Zealand

2.
New Zealand Labour Party Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa

Labour Party (Norway)
–
The Labour Party, formerly the Norwegian Labour Party, is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It was formerly the senior partner of the governing Red-Green Coalition, the party is currently led by Jonas Gahr Støre. The Labour Party is officially committed to social-democratic ideals and its slogan since the 1930s has been everyone shall

Industrial relations
–
Industrial relations is a multidisciplinary field that studies the employment relationship. Indeed, some authors now define human resource management as synonymous with employee relations, other authors see employee relations as dealing only with non-unionized workers, whereas labor relations is seen as dealing with unionized workers. Industrial re

Labour economics
–
Labour economics seeks to understand the functioning and dynamics of the markets for wage labour. Labour markets or job markets function through the interaction of workers and employers, Labour economics looks at the suppliers of labour services and the demanders of labour services, and attempts to understand the resulting pattern of wages, employm

2.
The neoclassical model analyzes the trade-off between leisure hours and working hours

3.
Railroad work.

4.
An advertisement for labour from Sabah and Sarawak, seen in Jalan Petaling, Kuala Lumpur.

Labour law
–
Labour law mediates the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions and the government. Collective labour law relates to the relationship between employee, employer and union. Individual labour law concerns employees rights at work and through the contract for work, Employment standards are social norms for the minimum socially a

Price floor
–
A price floor is a government- or group-imposed price control or limit on how low a price can be charged for a product. A price floor must be higher than the price in order to be effective. A price floor can be set below the equilibrium price. In the first graph at right, the green line represents a price floor set below the free-market price. In t

1.
An ineffective, non-binding price floor, below equilibrium price

Minimum wage law
–
Minimum wage law is the body of law which prohibits employers from hiring employees or workers for less than a given hourly, daily or monthly minimum wage. More than 90% of all countries have some kind of minimum wage legislation, until recently, minimum wage laws were usually very tightly focused. In the U. S. and Great Britain, for example, only

1.
History of the federal minimum wage in real and nominal dollars in the United States.

Poverty reduction
–
Poverty reduction, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. In modern times, various economists within the Georgism movement propose measures like the land tax to enhance access to the natural world for all. Poverty occurs in developing countries and d

Sweatshop
–
Sweatshop is a pejorative term for a workplace that has poor, socially unacceptable working conditions. The work may be difficult, dangerous, or underpaid, Workers in sweatshops may work long hours with low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage, child labor laws may also be violated. A sweatshop is a factory or workshop,

1.
A sweatshop c.1890

2.
Members of United Students Against Sweatshops marching in protest.

List of minimum wages by country

1.
No data

Fair price
–
In accounting and in most Schools of economic thought, fair value is a rational and unbiased estimate of the potential market price of a good, service, or asset. Under US GAAP, fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in a transaction between market participants at the measurement date. This is

Winston Churchill
–
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD PC DL FRS RA was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his overall, in 1963, he was the first of only eight p

Hansard
–
Hansard is the traditional name of the transcripts of Parliamentary Debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard, a London printer and publisher, though the history of the Hansard began in the British parliament, each of Britains colonies developed a separate and distinctive history. Before 1771, the B

1.
Hansard title page from 1832

2.
Sample of Hansard from The House of Commons, 1895. Shows sample of several members speaking as described in the text.

3.
Cover page of Hansard for the Province of Ontario, February 12, 1953

House of Commons of the United Kingdom
–
The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is the lower house of the countrys parliament. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The House is a body cons

4.
Another picture of the old House of Commons chamber. Note the dark veneer on the wood, which was purposely made much brighter in the new chamber.

Ordinance of Labourers 1349
–
The Ordinance of Labourers 1349 is often considered to be the start of English labour law. Specifically, it fixed wages and imposed price controls, required all those under the age of 60 to work, prohibited the enticing away of anothers servants, the ordinance was issued in response to the 1348−1350 outbreak of the Black Death in England. During th

1.
Nantwich workhouse

Edward III of England
–
Edward III transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. Edward was crowned at age fourteen after his father was deposed by his mother, Isabella of France, at age seventeen he led a successful coup against Mortimer, the de facto ruler of the country, and began his personal reign. After a successful ca

Medieval England
–
England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the medieval period, from the end of the 5th century through to the start of the Early Modern period in 1485. When England emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, the economy was in tatters, after several centuries of Germanic immigration, new identities and cultures began to

Serfs
–
Serfdom is the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism. It was a condition of bondage, which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe, serfs were often required not only to work on the lords fields, but also his mines, forests and roads. The decline of serfdom in Western Europe has sometimes be

Black Plague
–
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia and peaking in Europe in the years 1346–1353. The Black Death is thought to have originated in the plains of Central Asia. From there, it was most likely carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the

Justice of the Peace
–
A justice of the peace is a judicial officer, of a lower or puisne court, elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was used with the same meaning. Depending on the jurisdiction, such justices dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in

King James I
–
James VI and I was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death. The kingdoms of Scotland and England were individual sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciary, and laws, though both were ruled by James in pe

3.
James (right) depicted beside his mother Mary (left). In reality, they were separated when he was still a baby.

4.
James in 1586, age 20

History of capitalism
–
The history of capitalism can be traced back to early forms of merchant capitalism practiced in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It began to develop into its modern form during the Early Modern period in the Protestant countries of North-Western Europe, especially the Netherlands and England. Traders in Amsterdam and London created the first

1.
Map of a medieval manor. Notice the large commons area and the division of land into small strips. The mustard-colored areas are part of the demesne, the hatched areas part of the glebe. William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas, 01923

2.
Max Weber's model of capitalist development

3.
Decaying hedges mark the lines of the straight field boundaries created by a Parliamentary Act of Enclosure.

4.
A painting of a French seaport from 1638, at the height of mercantilism.

Trade unions
–
The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or unions is maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment and this may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules g

Principles of Political Economy
–
Principles of Political Economy by John Stuart Mill was one of the most important economics or political economy textbooks of the mid-nineteenth century. It was revised until its seventh edition in 1871, shortly before Mills death in 1873, along with A System of Logic, Principles of Political Economy established Mills reputation as a leading public

1.
Cover first edition, 1848

John Stuart Mill
–
John Stuart Mill was an English philosopher, political economist and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism, he contributed widely to social theory, political theory, Mill was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by his predecessor Jeremy Bentham, and contributed significantly to the t

2.
John Stuart Mill and Helen Taylor. Helen was the daughter of Harriet Taylor and collaborated with Mill for fifteen years after her mother's death in 1858.

3.
"A Feminine Philosopher". Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1873.

Collective action problems
–
Collective action refers to action taken together by a group of people whose goal is to enhance their status and achieve a common objective. It is enacted by a representative of the group and it is a term that has formulations and theories in many areas of the social sciences including psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science and econ

OECD
–
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 35 member countries, founded in 1960 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. Most OECD members are high-income economies with a very high Human Development Index and are regarded as developed countries, in 1948, the OECD originated

Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894
–
The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894 was a piece of industrial relations legislation passed by the Parliament of New Zealand in 1894. Enacted by the Liberal Government of New Zealand, it was the worlds first compulsory system of state arbitration and it gave legal recognition to unions and enabled them to take disputes to a Concilia

1.
Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act

Australian labour movement
–
The Australian labour movement has its origins in the early 19th century and includes both trade unions and political activity. At its broadest, the movement encompasses an industrial wing and a political wing, Trade unions in Australia may be organised on the basis of craft unionism, general unionism, or industrial unionism. The leadership and mem

Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
–
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is a federal statute of the United States. Several exemptions exist that relieve an employer from having to meet the minimum wage, overtime. The largest exceptions apply to the white collar exemptions that are applicable to professional. Exemptions are narrowly construed, as an employer must prove that the emplo

2.
The price P of a product is determined by a balance between production at each price (supply S) and the desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand D). The diagram shows a positive shift in demand from D 1 to D 2, resulting in an increase in price (P) and quantity sold (Q) of the product.

3.
Adam Smith

Labour supply

1.
An advertisement for labour from Sabah and Sarawak, seen in Jalan Petaling, Kuala Lumpur.

1.
A monopsonist employer maximizes profits by choosing the employment level L, that equates the marginal revenue product (MRP) to the marginal cost MC, at point A. The wage is then determined on the supply curve, at point M, and is equal to w. By contrast, a competitive labor market would reach equilibrium at point C, where supply S equals demand. This would lead to employment L' and wage w'.

4.
The Arts Quad on Cornell's main campus with iconic McGraw Tower in the background

Monopsonistic competition

1.
A monopsonist employer maximizes profits by choosing the employment level L, that equates the marginal revenue product (MRP) to the marginal cost MC, at point A. The wage is then determined on the supply curve, at point M, and is equal to w. By contrast, a competitive labor market would reach equilibrium at point C, where supply S equals demand. This would lead to employment L' and wage w'.

1.
Timeline of labor issues and events
–
Timeline of organized labor history 16191619 Jamestown Polish craftsmen strike 1636 Maine Indentured Servants and Fishermans Mutiny. 1648 Boston Coopers and Shoemakers form guilds,1677 New York City Carters Strike. 1684 New York City Carters Strike,1741 New York City Bakers Strike. 1774 Hibernia, New Jersey, Ironworks Strike,1778 Journeymen printers in New York combine to increase their wages. 1791 Philadelphia carpenters conduct first strike in the trades in the United States. 1792 Philadelphia has first local union in the United States organized to conduct collective bargaining,1794 Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers formed in Philadelphia. 1797 Profit sharing originated at Albert Gallatins glassworks in New Geneva,1799 Combination Act outlawed trade unionism and collective bargaining by workers. 1805 Journeymen Cordwainers union includes a clause in its constitution in New York City. 1806 Commonwealth v. Pullis was the first known court case arising from a strike in the United States. After a three-day trial, the found the defendants guilty of a combination to raise their wages. 1816 Food riots broke out in East Anglia, Workers demanded a double wage and for the setting of triple prices for food. 1824 The Combination Act of 1799 was repealed,1824 Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Textile Strike. 1825 United Tailoresses of New York organized in New York City,1825 Boston House Carpenters Strike 1827 Mechanics Union of Trades Associations formed in Philadelphia. 1828 Workingmens Party was organized in Philadelphia by the Mechanics Union of Trades Associations and their efforts lead directly to the forming of the Workingmens Party of New York. 1829 Workingmens Party of New York formed,1831 New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics, and other Workingmen formed. Fifty-five workers in Norwich were convicted of breaking and rioting by one of the Special Commissions sent by the Whig Ministry to suppress insurgent workers. Three workers in Ipswich were convicted of extorting money by one of the Special Commissions sent by the Whig Ministry to suppress insurgent workers, twenty-six workers in Petworth were convicted of machine breaking and rioting by one of the Special Commissions sent by the Whig Ministry to suppress insurgent workers. Upwards of thirty workers in Gloucester were convicted of breaking and rioting by one of the Special Commissions sent by the Whig Ministry to suppress insurgent workers

Timeline of labor issues and events
–
The Burning of Jamestown by Howard Pyle depicts the burning of Jamestown, Virginia during Bacon's Rebellion (1676–77).
Timeline of labor issues and events
–
Frame-breakers, or Luddites, smashing a loom. Machine-breaking was criminalized by the Parliament of the United Kingdom as early as 1721, but as a result of continued opposition to mechanisation the Frame-Breaking Act 1812 made the death penalty available: see "Criminal damage in English law".
Timeline of labor issues and events
–
Women in England mourning their lovers who are soon to be transported to Botany Bay, 1792
Timeline of labor issues and events
–
1836 Constitution of the Lowell Factory Girls Association

2.
Proletariat
–
The proletariat is a term for the class of wage-earners, in a capitalist society, whose only possession of significant material value is their labor-power, a member of such a class is a proletarian. The proletarii constituted a class of Roman citizens owning little or no property. This assembly, which met on the Campus Martius to discuss public policy issues, was also used as a means of designating military duties demanded of Roman citizens. The top infantry class assembled with full arms and armor, the two classes brought arms and armor, but less and lesser, the fourth class only spears. In voting, the cavalry and top class were enough to decide an issue, as voting started at the top. As a result of the Marian reforms initiated in 107 B. C. by the Roman general Gaius Marius, proletarians are wage-workers, while some refer to those who receive salaries as the salariat. For Marx, however, wage labor may involve getting a salary rather than a wage per se, intermediate positions are possible, where some wage-labor for an employer combines with self-employment. Socialist parties have often struggled over the question of whether they should seek to organize and represent all the lower classes, according to Marxism, capitalism is a system based on the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie. Instead of hiring those means of production, they themselves get hired by capitalists and work for them and these goods or services become the property of the capitalist, who sells them at the market. Surplus value is the difference between the wealth that the proletariat produces through its work, and the wealth it consumes to survive and to provide labor to the capitalist companies. A part of the value is used to renew or increase the means of production, either in quantity or quality. What remains is consumed by the capitalist class, the commodities that proletarians produce and capitalists sell are valued for the amount of labor embodied in them. The same goes for the labor power itself, it is valued, not for the amount of wealth it produces. Marxists argue that new wealth is created through labor applied to natural resources, prole drift, short for proletarian drift, is a term that suggests the tendency in advanced industrialized societies for everything inexorably to become proletarianized, or to become commonplace. This trend is attributed to mass production, mass selling, mass communication, examples include best-seller lists, films and music that must appeal to the masses and shopping malls. Why workers can change the world, hal Draper, Karl Marxs Theory of Revolution, Vol.2, The Politics of Social Classes

Proletariat
–
A manual labourer at work in Venezuela. Manual labourers are generally considered to be part of the proletariat.
Proletariat
–
A 1911 Industrial Worker publication advocating industrial unionism based on a critique of capitalism. The proletariat "work for all" and "feed all".

3.
Socialism
–
Social ownership may refer to forms of public, collective, or cooperative ownership, to citizen ownership of equity, or to any combination of these. Although there are varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them. Socialist economic systems can be divided into both non-market and market forms, non-market socialism aims to circumvent the inefficiencies and crises traditionally associated with capital accumulation and the profit system. Profits generated by these firms would be controlled directly by the workforce of each firm or accrue to society at large in the form of a social dividend, the feasibility and exact methods of resource allocation and calculation for a socialist system are the subjects of the socialist calculation debate. Core dichotomies associated with these concerns include reformism versus revolutionary socialism, the term is frequently used to draw contrast to the political system of the Soviet Union, which critics argue operated in an authoritarian fashion. By the 1920s, social democracy and communism became the two dominant political tendencies within the international socialist movement, by this time, Socialism emerged as the most influential secular movement of the twentieth century, worldwide. Socialist parties and ideas remain a force with varying degrees of power and influence in all continents. Today, some socialists have also adopted the causes of social movements. The origin of the term socialism may be traced back and attributed to a number of originators, in addition to significant historical shifts in the usage, for Andrew Vincent, The word ‘socialism’ finds its root in the Latin sociare, which means to combine or to share. The related, more technical term in Roman and then medieval law was societas and this latter word could mean companionship and fellowship as well as the more legalistic idea of a consensual contract between freemen. The term socialism was created by Henri de Saint-Simon, one of the founders of what would later be labelled utopian socialism. Simon coined socialism as a contrast to the doctrine of individualism. They presented socialism as an alternative to liberal individualism based on the ownership of resources. The term socialism is attributed to Pierre Leroux, and to Marie Roch Louis Reybaud in France, the term communism also fell out of use during this period, despite earlier distinctions between socialism and communism from the 1840s. An early distinction between socialism and communism was that the former aimed to only socialise production while the latter aimed to socialise both production and consumption. However, by 1888 Marxists employed the term socialism in place of communism, linguistically, the contemporary connotation of the words socialism and communism accorded with the adherents and opponents cultural attitude towards religion. In Christian Europe, of the two, communism was believed to be the atheist way of life, in Protestant England, the word communism was too culturally and aurally close to the Roman Catholic communion rite, hence English atheists denoted themselves socialists. Friedrich Engels argued that in 1848, at the time when the Communist Manifesto was published, socialism was respectable on the continent and this latter branch of socialism produced the communist work of Étienne Cabet in France and Wilhelm Weitling in Germany

4.
Syndicalism
–
Syndicalism is a proposed type of economic system, considered a replacement for capitalism. It suggests that workers, industries, and organisations be systematized into confederations or syndicates and it is a system of economic organization in which industries are owned and managed by the workers. Its theory and practice is the advocacy of multiple cooperative productive units composed of specialists and representatives of workers in each field to negotiate, industry in a syndicalist system would be run through co-operative confederations and mutual aid. Local syndicates may communicate with other syndicates through the Bourse du Travail which would cooperatively determine distributions of commodities, Syndicalism is also used to refer to the political movement and the tactic of bringing about this social arrangement, typically expounded by anarcho-syndicalism and De Leonism. It aims to achieve a strike, a workers outward refusal of their current modes of production, followed by organisation into federations of trade unions. Throughout its history, the reformist section of syndicalism has been overshadowed by its revolutionary section, although the terms anarcho-syndicalism and revolutionary syndicalism are often used interchangeably, the anarcho-syndicalist label was not widely used until the early 1920s. Traditionally the revolutionary syndicalism of figures such as Rudolph Rocker has overshadowed the more reformist or economically-focused syndicalism. Related theories include anarchism, socialism, national syndicalism, Marxism, Leninism and communism, syndicalisme/Sindicalismo is a French/Spanish word meaning trade unionism. The earliest expressions of syndicalist structure and methods were formulated in the International Workingmens Association or First International, in 1895, the Confédération Générale du Travail in France expressed fully the organisational structure and methods of revolutionary syndicalism influencing labour movements the world over. Through a general strike, workers would take control of industry and services and self-manage society, the Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden, formed in 1910, are a notable example of an anarcho-syndicalist union influenced by the CGT. Today, the SAC is one of the largest anarcho-syndicalist unions in the world in proportion to the population, the International Workers Association, formed in 1922, is an international syndicalist federation of various labour unions from different countries. At its peak, the International Workers Association represented millions of workers and competed directly for the hearts and minds of the class with social democratic unions. The Spanish Confederación Nacional del Trabajo played a role in the Spanish labour movement. Another Spanish anarcho-syndicalist union, the Confederacion General del Trabajo de España, is now the fourth largest union in Spain, the Industrial Workers of the World, although explicitly not syndicalist, were informed by developments in the broader revolutionary syndicalist milieu at the turn of the twentieth-century. An emphasis on industrial organisation was a feature of syndicalism when it began to be identified as a distinct current at the beginning of the 20th century. Although all syndicalists emphasise industrial organisation, not all political action altogether. Much of Spains economy was put under control, in anarchist strongholds like Catalonia. Their eventual defeat and World War II led to the prominent theory being repressed

Syndicalism
–
Syndicalism

5.
Anarcho-syndicalism
–
The basic principles of anarcho-syndicalism are solidarity, direct action and direct democracy, or workers self-management. The end goal of anarcho-syndicalism is to abolish the wage system, Anarcho-syndicalist theory therefore generally focuses on the labour movement. Reflecting the anarchist philosophy from which it draws its primary inspiration, hubert Lagardelle wrote that Pierre-Joseph Proudhon laid out fundamental ideas of anarcho-syndicalism, and repudiated both capitalism and the state in the process. He viewed free economic groups and struggle, not pacifism as dominant in humans, the CNT started small, counting 26,571 members represented through several trade unions and other confederations. In 1911, coinciding with its first congress, the CNT initiated a strike that provoked a Barcelona judge to declare the union illegal until 1914. That same year of 1911, the union officially received its name. From 1918 on the CNT grew stronger, the CNT had an outstanding role in the events of the La Canadiense general strike, which paralyzed 70% of industry in Catalonia in 1919, the year the CNT reached a membership of 700,000. Around that time, panic spread among employers, giving rise to the practice of pistolerismo and these pistoleros are credited with killing 21 union leaders in 48 hours. In 1922 the International Workers Association was founded in Berlin, the CNT joined immediately, however, the following year, with the rise of Miguel Primo de Riveras dictatorship, the labor union was outlawed, once again. The first secretaries of the International included the writer and activist Rudolph Rocker, along with Augustin Souchy. Following the first congress, other groups affiliated from France, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania. Later, a bloc of unions in the USA, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Cuba, Costa Rica and El Salvador also shared the IWAs statutes. The biggest syndicalist union in the USA, the IWW, considered joining but eventually ruled out affiliation in 1936, citing the IWAs policies on religious and political affiliation. The Industrial Workers of the World, although not anarcho-syndicalist, were informed by developments in the revolutionary syndicalist milieu at the turn of the 20th century. Although the terms anarcho-syndicalism and revolutionary syndicalism are often used interchangeably, the Biennio Rosso was a two-year period, between 1919 and 1920, of intense social conflict in Italy, following the first world war. The Biennio Rosso took place in a context of crisis at the end of the war, with high unemployment. It was characterized by strikes, worker manifestations as well as self-management experiments through land. In Turin and Milan, workers councils were formed and many factory occupations took place under the leadership of anarcho-syndicalists, the agitations also extended to the agricultural areas of the Padan plain and were accompanied by peasant strikes, rural unrests and guerilla conflicts between left-wing and right-wing militias

6.
Child labour
–
This practice is considered exploitative by many international organisations. Legislation across the world prohibit child labour, Child labour has existed to varying extents, through most of history. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many children aged 5–14 from poorer families still worked in Europe and these children mainly worked in agriculture, home-based assembly operations, factories, mining and in services such as news boys. Some worked night shifts lasting 12 hours, with the rise of household income, availability of schools and passage of child labour laws, the incidence rates of child labour fell. In developing countries, with poverty and poor schooling opportunities. In 2010, sub-saharan Africa had the highest incidence rates of child labour, worldwide agriculture is the largest employer of child labour. Vast majority of labour is found in rural settings and informal urban economy, children are predominantly employed by their parents. Poverty and lack of schools are considered as the cause of child labour. Globally the incidence of child labour decreased from 25% to 10% between 1960 and 2003, according to the World Bank. Nevertheless, the number of child labourers remains high, with UNICEF. Child labour forms a part of pre-industrial economies. In pre-industrial societies, there is rarely a concept of childhood in the modern sense, Children often begin to actively participate in activities such as child rearing, hunting and farming as soon as they are competent. In many societies, children as young as 13 are seen as adults, the work of children was important in pre-industrial societies, as children needed to provide their labour for their survival and that of their group. In pre-industrial societies, there was little need for children to attend school and this is especially the case in non literate societies. Most pre-industrial skill and knowledge were amenable to being passed down through direct mentoring or apprenticing by competent adults, with the onset of the Industrial Revolution in Britain in the late 18th century, there was a rapid increase in the industrial exploitation of labour, including child labour. Industrial cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool rapidly grew from small villages into large cities and these cities drew in the population that was rapidly growing due to increased agricultural output. This process was replicated in other industrialising counties, the Victorian era in particular became notorious for the conditions under which children were employed. Children as young as four were employed in factories and mines working long hours in dangerous, often fatal

Child labour
–
Early 20th century witnessed many home-based enterprises involving child labour. An example is shown above from New York, USA (1912).
Child labour
–
A succession of laws on child labour, the so-called Factory Acts, were passed in Britain in the 19th century. Children younger than nine were not allowed to work, those aged 9–16 could work 16 hours per day per Cotton Mills Act. In 1856, the law permitted child labour past age 9, for 60 hours per week, night or day. In 1901, the permissible child labour age was raised to 12.
Child labour
–
Child labourers, Macon, Georgia, 1909
Child labour
–
Children going to a 12-hour night shift in the United States (1908).

7.
Eight-hour day
–
The use of child labour was common. The working day could range from 10 to 16 hours for six days a week, robert Owen had raised the demand for a ten-hour day in 1810, and instituted it in his socialist enterprise at New Lanark. By 1817 he had formulated the goal of the day and coined the slogan, Eight hours labour, Eight hours recreation. Women and children in England were granted the day in 1847. French workers won the 12-hour day after the February revolution of 1848, a shorter working day and improved working conditions were part of the general protests and agitation for Chartist reforms and the early organisation of trade unions. Karl Marx saw it as of importance to the workers health, saying in Das Kapital, By extending the working day, therefore. The first international treaty to mention it was the Treaty of Versailles in the annex of its thirteen part establishing the International Labour Office, now the International Labour Organization. The eight-hour day was the first topic discussed by the International Labour Organization which resulted in the Hours of Work Convention,1919 ratified by 52 countries as of 2016. The eight-hour day movement forms part of the history for the celebration of Labour Day. In Iran in 1918, the work of reorganizing the trade began in earnest in Tehran during the closure of the Iranian constitutional parliament Majles. In 1918, the newly organised union staged a 14-day strike and succeeded in reaching an agreement with employers to institute the eight-hours day, overtime pay. The success of the printers union encouraged other trades to organize, in 1919 the bakers and textile-shop clerks formed their own trade unions. In 1946 the council of ministers issued the first labor law for Iran, the first company to introduce an eight-hour working day in Japan was the Kawasaki Dockyards in Kobe. An eight-hour day was one of the demands presented by the workers during pay negotiations in September 1919, after the company resisted the demands, a slowdown campaign was commenced by the workers on 18 September. After ten days of action, company president Kōjirō Matsukata agreed to the eight-hour day and wage increases on 27 September. The effects of the action were felt nationwide and inspired further industrial action at the Kawasaki, the eight-hour day did not become law in Japan until the passing of the Labor Standards Act in April 1947. Article 32 of the Act specifies a 40-hour week and paragraph specifies an eight-hour day, the Eight-hour day was enacted in France by Georges Clemenceau, as a way to avoid unemployment and diminish communist support. It was succeeded by a strong French support of it during the writing of the International Labour Organization Convention of 1919, at the turn of the 20th century the eight-hour day was introduced by Ernst Abbe at the Zeiss plants in Jena

Eight-hour day
–
Artist impression of the bomb explosion in Haymarket Square
Eight-hour day
Eight-hour day
–
Eight-hour day march circa 1900, outside Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne.
Eight-hour day
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Eight-hour day banner, Melbourne, 1856

8.
Collective bargaining
–
The interests of the employees are commonly presented by representatives of a trade union to which the employees belong. The union may negotiate with an employer or may negotiate with a group of businesses, depending on the country. A collective agreement functions as a contract between an employer and one or more unions. The parties often refer to the result of the negotiation as a bargaining agreement or as a collective employment agreement. The term collective bargaining was first used in 1891 by Beatrice Webb and it refers to the sort of collective negotiations and agreements that had existed since the rise of trade unions during the 18th century. In the United States, the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 made it illegal for any employer to deny rights to an employee. The issue of unionizing government employees in a trade union was much more controversial until the 1950s. In 1962 President John F Kennedy issued an order granting Federal employees the right to unionize. The right to bargain is recognized through international human rights conventions. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights identifies the ability to trade unions as a fundamental human right. In June 2007 the Supreme Court of Canada extensively reviewed the rationale for regarding collective bargaining as a human right, Collective bargaining permits workers to achieve a form of workplace democracy and to ensure the rule of law in the workplace. Workers gain a voice to influence the establishment of rules that control an aspect of their lives. Union members and other covered by collective agreements get, on average. Such a markup is typically 5 to 10 percent in industrial countries, unions tend to equalize the income distribution, especially between skilled and unskilled workers. The welfare loss associated with unions is 0.2 to 0.5 of GDP, in the United States, the National Labor Relations Act covers most collective agreements in the private sector. It is also illegal to require any employee to join a union as a condition of employment, unions are also exempt from antitrust law in the hope that members may collectively fix a higher price for their labour. Once the workers committee and management have agreed on a contract, if approved, the contract is usually in force for a fixed term of years, and when that term is up, it is then renegotiated between employees and management. Sometimes there are disputes over the contract, this particularly occurs in cases of workers fired without just cause in a union workplace

Collective bargaining
–
Beatrice Webb in 1894

9.
Occupational safety and health
–
These terms of course also refer to the goals of this field, so their use in the sense of this article was originally an abbreviation of occupational safety and health program/department etc. The goals of occupational safety and health programs include to foster a safe, OSH may also protect co-workers, family members, employers, customers, and many others who might be affected by the workplace environment. In the United States, the occupational health and safety is referred to as occupational health and occupational and non-occupational safety. In common-law jurisdictions, employers have a common law duty to take care of the safety of their employees. As defined by the World Health Organization occupational health deals with all aspects of health, Health has been defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Occupational health is a field of healthcare concerned with enabling an individual to undertake their occupation. Health has been defined as It contrasts, for example, with the promotion of health and safety at work, since 1950, the International Labour Organization and the World Health Organization have shared a common definition of occupational health. It was adopted by the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health at its first session in 1950, the concept of working culture is intended in this context to mean a reflection of the essential value systems adopted by the undertaking concerned. Such a culture is reflected in practice in the systems, personnel policy, principles for participation, training policies. Professionals advise on a range of occupational health matters. The research and regulation of safety and health are a relatively recent phenomenon. As labor movements arose in response to concerns in the wake of the industrial revolution. The initial remit of the Inspectorate was to police restrictions on the hours in the textile industry of children. The commission sparked public outrage resulted in the Mines Act of 1842. Otto von Bismarck inaugurated the first social insurance legislation in 1883, similar acts followed in other countries, partly in response to labor unrest. Although work provides many economic and other benefits, an array of workplace hazards also present risks to the health. Personal protective equipment can protect against many of these hazards. Physical hazards affect many people in the workplace, Falls are also a common cause of occupational injuries and fatalities, especially in construction, extraction, transportation, healthcare, and building cleaning and maintenance

Occupational safety and health
–
This painting depicts a woman examining her work on a lathe at a factory in Britain during World War II. Her eyes are not protected. Today, such practice would not be permitted in most industrialized countries that adhere to strong occupational health and safety standards for workers. In many countries, such standards are either weak or nonexistent, or poorly enforced.
Occupational safety and health
–
Workers cutting marble without any protective gear, Indore, India
Occupational safety and health
–
Harry McShane, age 16, 1908. Pulled into machinery in a factory in Cincinnati and had his arm ripped off at the shoulder and his leg broken without any compensation.
Occupational safety and health
–
Workplace safety notices at the entrance of a Chinese construction site.

10.
Trade union
–
The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or unions is maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment and this may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies. Unions may organize a section of skilled workers, a cross-section of workers from various trades. The agreements negotiated by a union are binding on the rank and file members, originating in Great Britain, trade unions became popular in many countries during the Industrial Revolution. Trade unions may be composed of workers, professionals, past workers, students. Trade union density, or the percentage of workers belonging to a union, is highest in the Nordic countries. The trade unions aim at nothing less than to prevent the reduction of wages below the level that is maintained in the various branches of industry. That is to say, they wish to prevent the price of labour-power from falling below its value, yet historian R. A. the other the aggressive-expansionist drive to unite all labouring men and women for a different order of things. The 18th century economist Adam Smith noted the imbalance in the rights of workers in regards to owners. In The Wealth of Nations, Book I, chapter 8, Smith wrote, We rarely hear, it has said, of the combination of masters. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labor above their actual rate When workers combine, masters. As Smith noted, unions were illegal for many years in most countries, there were severe penalties for attempting to organize unions, up to and including execution. This pool of unskilled and semi-skilled labour spontaneously organized in fits and starts throughout its beginnings, Trade unions and collective bargaining were outlawed from no later than the middle of the 14th century when the Ordinance of Labourers was enacted in the Kingdom of England. In 1799, the Combination Act was passed, which banned trade unions, although the unions were subject to often severe repression until 1824, they were already widespread in cities such as London. Sympathy for the plight of the workers brought repeal of the acts in 1824, by the 1810s, the first labour organizations to bring together workers of divergent occupations were formed. Possibly the first such union was the General Union of Trades, also known as the Philanthropic Society, the latter name was to hide the organizations real purpose in a time when trade unions were still illegal. The Association quickly enrolled approximately 150 unions, consisting mostly of textile related unions, but also including mechanics, blacksmiths, and various others

11.
International Trade Union Confederation
–
The International Trade Union Confederation is the worlds largest trade union federation. It was formed on 1 November 2006, out of the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, the Founding Congress of the ITUC was held in Vienna and was preceded by the dissolution congresses of both the ICFTU and the WCL. The ITUC represents 176 million workers through its 328 affiliated organisations within 162 countries and territories, Sharan Burrow is the current General Secretary. Also in 2014, the ITUC debuted the Global Rights Index, which ranks nations on 97 metrics pertaining to rights, such as freedom from violent conditions. The founding congress of the ITUC was held from 1 to 3 November 2006 in Vienna, the first day of the congress saw the formal creation of the ITUC followed by an address by Juan Somavia, the Director-General of the International Labour Organization. Technical difficulties limited Lamys satellite video link participation, leadership and officers were elected on the final day of the congress. Guy Ryder, the general secretary of the ICFTU, was elected to the same position in the new organisation. A Governing Council was established, with 70 elected members, and 8 additional seats reserved for youth, a Council of Global Unions was also formed on the final day of the congress. It was established jointly with ten global union federations and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD, the second congress of the ITUC was held from 21 to 25 June 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. On 25 June 2010, at the conclusion of the congress, Sharan Burrow was elected General Secretary, in anticipation of her election, Burrow had resigned from her position as President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions effective 1 July 2010. Speaking to the Congress after her election, Burrow paid tribute to her predecessor, but the investment in and participation of women is not only a moral mandate it is an investment in democracy and a bulwark against fundamentalism and oppression. Organising woman is and must continue to be a priority for the ITUC, the Pan-European Regional Council, a European trade union organisation within the ITUC was formed 19 March 2007. It consists of 87 national trade union centres and a membership of 87 million. It works closely with the European Trade Union Confederation, and Bernadette Ségol is currently the secretary of both organisations. ITUC has been blamed for using doubtful means during their investigations in countries like Qatar, Kuwait, iTUCs relationship with the Gulf appears to have assumed an adversarial one. Global union federation List of federations of trade unions World Federation of Trade Unions General Confederation of Trade Unions Decent work Fabio Bertini, Gilliatt e la piovra

International Trade Union Confederation
–
ITUC

12.
World Federation of Trade Unions
–
The World Federation of Trade Unions was established in 1945 to replace the International Federation of Trade Unions. Its mission was to bring together trade unions across the world in a international organization. In the context of the Cold War, the WFTU was often portrayed as a Soviet front organization, a number of those unions, including those from Yugoslavia and China, left later when their governments had ideological differences with the Soviet Union. The WFTU declined as a result of the collapse of the Communist regimes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, in particular in Europe, the WFTU devotes much of its energy to organizing conferences, issuing statements and producing educational materials and courses for trade union leaders. In France, the CGT federation of food processing industry has maintained its affiliation with the WFTU, the CGT federation of Chemical industries sent delegates to the last congress in Athens in 2011. In 2013, two local CGT railway workers branches have taken steps to become affiliates with the WFTU, in Africa, unions of major importance such as COSATU in South Africa, have affiliated with the WFTU. The WFTU holds consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, the ILO, UNESCO, FAO and it maintains permanent missions in New York, Geneva, and Rome. The TUI system has gone through a number of transformations in its over 60 years of existence, the following Trade Unions Internationals are constituted within the WFTU. During the late 1940s, the WFTU unsuccessfully tried to reach an agreement with existing international trade secretariats. When the Union split in 1949 they were left without an organization at the level of specific industries, therefore, they created the, World Federation of Teachers Unions – known by its French acronym FISE, this is the earliest affiliated union, founded in 1946. It maintained a degree of independence from the WFTU not exercised by the other TUIs, in 1949, the 2nd World Congress decided to create a series of sectoral unions, after their negotiations with already existing international trade secretariats failed. At first these were known as Trade Departments or International Federations, the original TUIs formed in 1949 and 1950 were, The WFTU functioned during the Cold War largely as a front organization, bringing together unions and western unions. By 1985, this union had adopted its present name, Trade Unions International of Transport Workers, in 1954 the TUI of Chemical and Allied Workers expanded its sectoral base and became the Trade Unions International of Chemical, Oil and Allied Workers. In 1958 the TUIs of Leather, Shoe, Fur and Leather Products and of Textile and Clothing Workers merged to form the Trade Union International of Textile, Leather, in 1983 the TUI of Miners expanded its scope and became the Trade Unions International of Miners and Energy Workers. In 1986 it became the Trade Unions International of Energy Workers before ceasing activities, after the dissolution of the Eastern bloc, the Trade Unions International of Energy Workers and the Trade Union International of Metal and Engineering Workers temporarily suspended operations. This organization was reorganized again as the Trade Unions International of Energy Workers in 2007 and this left the metal workers an opportunity create a new TUI the next year, Trade Union International of Workers in the Mining, the Metallurgy and the Metal Industries. L. Mahendra 2005, Shaban Assouz 2016, Michael Mzwandile Makwayiba List of federations of trade unions List of trade unions Fabio BERTINI, kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University

World Federation of Trade Unions
–
World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU)

13.
Strike action
–
Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances, Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution, when mass labor became important in factories and mines. In most countries, strike actions were made illegal, as factory owners had far more power than workers. Most Western countries partially legalized striking in the late 19th or early 20th centuries, Strikes are sometimes used to pressure governments to change policies. Notable examples are the 1980 Gdańsk Shipyard or 1981 Warning Strike, official publications have typically used the more neutral words work stoppage or industrial dispute. The first historically certain account of action was towards the end of the 20th dynasty. The artisans of the Royal Necropolis at Deir el-Medina walked off their jobs because they had not been paid, the Egyptian authorities raised the wages. An early predecessor of the strike may have been the secessio plebis in ancient Rome. In the Outline Of History, H. G. Wells characterized this event as the strike of the plebeians, the plebeians seem to have invented the strike. The strike action became a feature of the political landscape with the onset of the Industrial Revolution. For the first time in history, large numbers of people were members of the working class, they lived in cities. By the 1830s, when the Chartist movement was at its peak, in 1842 the demands for fairer wages and conditions across many different industries finally exploded into the first modern general strike. Instead of being a spontaneous uprising of the masses, the strike was politically motivated and was driven by an agenda to win concessions. Probably as much as half of the industrial work force were on strike at its peak – over 500,000 men. The local leadership marshalled a growing working class tradition to organize their followers to mount an articulate challenge to the capitalist. Friedrich Engels, an observer in London at the time, wrote, by its numbers, this class has become the most powerful in England, the English proletarian is only just becoming aware of his power, and the fruits of this awareness were the disturbances of last summer. Karl Marx has condemned the theory of Proudhon criminalizing strike action in his work The Poverty of Philosophy, in 1937 there were 4,740 strikes in the United States. This was the greatest strike wave in American labor history, the number of major strikes and lockouts in the U. S. fell by 97% from 381 in 1970 to 187 in 1980 to only 11 in 2010

Strike action
–
Female tailors on strike, New York City, February 1910.
Strike action
–
Strike action (1879), painting by Theodor Kittelsen
Strike action
–
Agitated workers face the factory owner in The Strike, painted by Robert Koehler in 1886
Strike action
–
A rally of the trade union UNISON in Oxford during a strike on 2006-03-28.

List of strikes
–
Bodies immediately after the Lena massacre of striking goldfield workers in 1912

15.
General strike
–
A general strike is a strike action in which a substantial proportion of the total labour force in a city, region, or country participates. General strikes are characterised by the participation of workers in a multitude of workplaces, General strikes first occurred in the mid-19th century, and have characterised many historically important strikes. An early predecessor of the strike may have been the secessio plebis in ancient Rome. In the Outline Of History, H. G. Wells recorded the general strike of the plebeians, the plebeians seem to have invented the strike, which now makes its first appearance in history. Wells noted that he made a mean use of their political advantages to grow rich through the national conquests at the expense not only of the defeated enemy. The plebeians, who were expected to obey the laws, but were not allowed to know the laws, were successful, in 450 BC. in a concession resulting from the rebellion of the plebeians, the laws of Rome were written for all to peruse. The general strike action became a feature of the political landscape with the onset of the Industrial Revolution. For the first time in history, large numbers of people were members of the working class, they lived in cities. By the 1830s, when the Chartist movement was at its peak, the first theorist to formulate and popularise the idea of a general strike for the purpose of political reform was the radical pamphleteer William Benbow. On 28 January 1832 Benbow published a pamphlet entitled Grand National Holiday, Benbow began to advocate direct and even violent action for political reform, in particular he advanced his idea for a national holiday and national convention. The striking workers were to support themselves with savings and confiscated parish funds, benbows idea of a Grand National Holiday was adopted by the Chartist Congress of 1839, Benbow having spent time in Manchester during 1838-9 promoting his the cause and his pamphlet. In 1842 the demands for wages and conditions across many different industries finally exploded into the first modern general strike. Instead of being a spontaneous uprising of the masses, the strike was politically motivated and was driven by a hard-headed agenda to win concessions. Probably as much as half of the industrial work force were on strike at its peak - over 500,000 men. The local leadership marshaled a growing working class tradition to politically organise their followers to mount a challenge to the capitalist. The mass abandonment of plantations by black slaves and poor whites during the American Civil War has, controversially, in his classic history Black Reconstruction in America, W. E. B. The trickling streams of fugitives swelled to a flood, once begun, the general strike of black and white went madly and relentlessly on like some great saga. The next large scale strike took place over half a century later in Belgium

16.
Australian Labor Party
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The Australian Labor Party is a political party in Australia. The party has been in opposition at federal level since the 2013 election, Bill Shorten has been the partys federal parliamentary leader since 13 October 2013. The party is a party with branches in each state. Labor is in government in the states of Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, the party competes against the Liberal/National Coalition for political office at the federal and state levels. Labors current National Platform describes the party as a social democratic party, the party of opportunity and security for working people. The ALP was not founded as a party until after the first sitting of the Australian Parliament in 1901. Nevertheless, it is regarded as descended from labour parties founded in the various Australian colonies by the labour movement in Australia. Labor is thus the countrys oldest political party, colonial labour parties contested seats from 1891, and federal seats following Federation at the 1901 federal election. Labor was the first party in Australia to win a majority in either house of the Australian Parliament, internationally, the ALP is a member of the Progressive Alliance network of social-democratic parties, having previously been a member of the Socialist International. The Australian Labor Party has its origins in the Labour parties founded in the 1890s in the Australian colonies prior to federation, Labor tradition ascribes the founding of Queensland Labour to a meeting of striking pastoral workers under a ghost gum tree in Barcaldine, Queensland in 1891. The Balmain, New South Wales branch of the party claims to be the oldest in Australia, Labour as a parliamentary party dates from 1891 in New South Wales and South Australia,1893 in Queensland, and later in the other colonies. The first election contested by Labour candidates was the 1891 New South Wales election, the major parties were the Protectionist and Free Trade parties and Labour held the balance of power. It offered parliamentary support in exchange for policy concessions, the United Labor Party of South Australia was founded in 1891, and three candidates were that year elected to the South Australian Legislative Council. The first successful South Australian House of Assembly candidate was John McPherson at the 1892 East Adelaide by-election, at the 1893 South Australian elections the ULP was immediately elevated to balance of power status with 10 of 54 lower house seats. The liberal government of Charles Kingston was formed with the support of the ULP, so successful, less than a decade later at the 1905 election, Thomas Price would form the worlds first stable Labor government. John Verran led Labor to form the states first of many majority governments at the 1910 election, in 1899, Anderson Dawson formed a minority Labour government in Queensland, the first in the world, which lasted one week while the conservatives regrouped after a split. The colonial Labour parties and the unions were mixed in their support for the Federation of Australia. They feared that federation would further entrench the power of the conservative forces, the first Labour leader and Prime Minister, Chris Watson, however, was a supporter of federation

Australian Labor Party
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Bill Shorten, Labor leader 2013–present
Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
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Chris Watson, first leader of then Federal Labour Party 1901–07 (held the balance of power) and Prime Minister in 1904
Australian Labor Party
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Andrew Fisher, Prime Minister 1908–09, 1910–13, 1914–15

17.
Labour Party (UK)
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation

Labour Party (UK)
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Keir Hardie, one of the Labour Party's founders and its first leader
Labour Party (UK)
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Labour Party Plaque from Caroone House, 14 Farringdon Street
Labour Party (UK)
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Ramsay MacDonald: First Labour Prime Minister, 1924 and 1929–31
Labour Party (UK)
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Aneurin Bevan speaking in October 1952

18.
Labour Party (Netherlands)
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The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1946 as a merger of the Social Democratic Workers Party, the Free-thinking Democratic League, Prime Ministers from the Labour Party have been Willem Drees, Joop den Uyl, and Wim Kok. Since 2012, the PvdA is the partner in the Second Rutte cabinet with the Peoples Party for Freedom. Since 2016, Lodewijk Asscher has been Leader of the Labour Party, the party won 9 seats in the House of Representatives in the 2017 general election. The Labour Party is a member of the European Party of European Socialists, in the European Parliament, where the Labour Party has 3 seats, it is part of the parliamentary group Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. They were joined by individuals from Catholic resistance group Christofoor and the Protestant parties Christian Historical Union, the founders of the PvdA wanted to create a broad party, breaking with the historic tradition of Pillarisation. This desire to come to a new system was called the Doorbraak. The party combined socialists with liberal democrats and progressive Christians, however, the party was unable to break Pillarisation. Instead the new party renewed the ties that SDAP had with other socialist organisations. In 1948 some conservative members, led by former VDB leader Pieter Oud, together with the Freedom Party, they formed the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy, a conservative-liberal party. Between 1946 and 1958, the PvdA formed coalition governments with the Catholic Peoples Party, the KVP and the PvdA together had a large majority in parliament. Since 1948, these cabinets were led by PvdA Prime Minister Willem Drees, under his leadership the Netherlands recovered from the war, began to build its welfare state and Indonesia became independent. After the cabinet crisis of 1958, the PvdA was replaced by the VVD, the PvdA was in opposition until 1965. The electoral support of PvdA voters began to decline, in 1965 a conflict in the KVP-ARP-CHU-VVD cabinet made continuation of the government impossible. The three confessional, Christian-influenced parties turned towards the PvdA, together they formed the Cals cabinet. This cabinet was also lived and conflict ridden. The conflicts culminated in the fall of the Cals cabinet over economic policy, meanwhile, a younger generation was attempting to gain control of the PvdA. A group of young PvdA members, calling themselves the New Left, prominent New Left members were Jan Nagel, André van der Louw and Bram Peper

Labour Party (Netherlands)
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Willem Drees, co-founder and party leader from 1946 until 1958, Prime Minister from 1948 until 1958.
Labour Party (Netherlands)
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Joop den Uyl, leader from 1966 until 1986, Prime Minister from 1973 until 1977.
Labour Party (Netherlands)
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Wim Kok, party leader from 1986 until 2001, Prime Minister from 1994 until 2002.
Labour Party (Netherlands)
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Job Cohen, party leader from 2010 until 2012.

19.
Labour Party (Ireland)
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The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. Unlike the other main Irish political parties, Labour did not arise as a faction of the original Sinn Féin party. This gives Labour a cumulative total of nineteen years served as part of a government, the current party leader is Brendan Howlin. It is currently the fourth largest party in Dáil Éireann, with seven seats, the Labour Party is a member of the Progressive Alliance, Socialist International, and Party of European Socialists. In 1912 James Connolly, James Larkin and William OBrien established the Irish Labour Party as the wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. This party was to represent the workers in the expected Dublin Parliament under the Third Home Rule Act 1914, the Irish Citizen Army, formed during the 1913 Lockout, was informally the military wing of the Labour Movement. The ICA took part in the 1916 Rising, councillor Richard OCarroll, a Labour Party member of Dublin Corporation, was the only elected representative to be killed during the Easter Rising. OCarroll was shot and died days later on 5 May 1916. The ICA was revived during Peadar ODonnells Republican Congress but after the 1935 split in the Congress most ICA members joined the Labour Party. The British Labour Party had previously organised in Ireland, but in 1913 the Labour NEC agreed that the Irish Labour Party would have organising rights over the entirety of Ireland. A group of trade unionists in Belfast objected and the Belfast Labour Party, in Larkins absence, William OBrien became the dominant figure in the Irish Transport and General Workers Union and wielded considerable influence in the Labour Party. OBrien also dominated the Irish Trade Union Congress and it also refrained from contesting the 1921 elections. As a result, the party was left outside Dáil Éireann during the years of the independence struggle. The Anglo-Irish Treaty divided the Labour Party, some members sided with the Irregulars in the Irish Civil War that quickly followed. OBrien and Johnson encouraged its members to support the Treaty, in the 1922 general election the party won 17 seats. However, there were a number of strikes during the first year, in the 1923 general election the Labour Party only won 14 seats. From 1922 until Fianna Fáil TDs took their seats in 1927, Labour attacked the lack of social reform by the Cumann na nGaedheal government. In 1923 Larkin returned to Ireland and he hoped to take over the leadership role he had left, but OBrien resisted him

Labour Party (Ireland)
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The most recent Labour Party leader, Eamon Gilmore
Labour Party (Ireland)
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Labour Party

20.
Israeli Labor Party
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The Israeli Labor Party, commonly known as HaAvoda, is a social democratic and Zionist political party in Israel. The Israeli Labor Party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda, until 1977, all Israeli Prime Ministers were affiliated with the Labor movement. The current party leader since 2013 is Isaac Herzog, the Labor Party is associated with supporting the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, pragmatic foreign affairs policies and social democratic economic policies. The party is a member of the Socialist International and Progressive Alliance, after the Six-Day War broke out, Rafi and Gahal joined the coalition. On 23 January 1968 Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi merged into one body, on 28 January 1969, the party allied itself with Mapam, the alliance becoming known as the Alignment. As the largest faction within the Alignment, Labor came to dominate it, Mapam left during the eighth Knesset, but rejoined shortly afterwards. In the 1977 elections, Labor for the first time ended up in opposition, in the 1984 elections, Labor joined a national unity government with Likud, with the post of Prime Minister rotating between the two parties. Mapam broke away again during the eleventh Knesset, angry at Shimon Peress decision to form a unity government with Likud. Although the Independent Liberals merged into the Alignment in the 1980s, on 7 October 1991 the Alignment ceased to exist, with all factions formally merged into the Labor Party. W. Led by Yitzhak Rabin, Labor won the 1992 elections and formed the government together with Meretz, in domestic policy, the Labor-led government introduced various measures to improve levels of social protection. Better provisions were introduced for single parents and people with disabilities, the 1994 Law to Reduce Poverty and Income Inequality increased income maintenance grants to needy families, particularly benefitting those sections of society most vulnerable to poverty. In 1995, a health insurance policy was implemented, making access to health care a right for all Israelis. Various measures were introduced to bring greater progressivity into the system of collection of national insurance contributions. A maternity grant for adopting mothers was introduced, together with insurance for housewives, a minimum unemployment allowance. The subsequent role of Labor became to a large extent tied to the Oslo Accords, the Oslo Accords led to a vote of confidence, which the Government won with a margin of 61–50. Several MKs from the Government parties declined to support the Government, but on the other hand, due to the lack of a constitution in Israel, the Government was able to implement the accords with a thin margin. Rabins decision to advance peace talks with the Palestinians to the point of signing the Oslo Accords led to his assassination by Yigal Amir in 1995, Peres decided to call early elections in 1996 to give him a mandate for advancing the peace process. However, his ploy failed, although Labor won the most seats in the Knesset election, Netanyahu and Likud were thus able to form the government

Israeli Labor Party
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Labor party ballot: Emet

21.
New Zealand Labour Party
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The New Zealand Labour Party, or simply Labour, is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. With its historic rival, the New Zealand National Party, Labour has dominated New Zealand governments since the 1930s, Labour currently promotes a social-democratic platform. It is a participant of the international Progressive Alliance, the New Zealand Labour Party was formed in 1916 by various socialist parties and trade unions. It is thus the countrys oldest political party still in existence, there have been five Labour governments. The party was first in power from 1935 and 1949, when it established New Zealands welfare state and it governed most recently from 1999 to 2008 with Helen Clark as party leader and Prime Minister. Since the partys defeat in the 2008 general election, Labour has comprised the second-largest caucus represented in the New Zealand Parliament, on 18 November 2014 Andrew Little was confirmed outside of Parliament and in a press conference as the new Labour leader. Labours 1916 policy objectives called for the socialisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange, up to the 1980s Labour remained a party that believed in a strong role for governments in economic and social matters. However, it had transformed from a trade union-dominated, socialist-oriented movement to a moderate social-democratic party. The Labour Government of the 1980s deviated sharply from a social-democratic path, in a series of economic reforms dubbed Rogernomics, the Government removed a swathe of regulations and subsidies, privatised state assets and introduced corporate practices to state services. Equal access to all social, economic, cultural, political and legal spheres, co-operation as the main governing factor in economic relations, to ensure a just distribution of wealth. Universal rights to dignity, self-respect and the opportunity to work, the right to wealth and property, subject to the provisos of regarding people as always more important than property and the obligations of the state to ensure a just distribution of wealth. The Treaty of Waitangi as the document of New Zealand, and its honouring in the Party, government, society. The promotion of peace and social justice throughout the world by international co-operation, Equality in human rights regardless of race, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religious faith, political belief or disability. Its origins lie in the British working class movement, heavily influenced by Australian radicalism and it is the oldest surviving New Zealand political party. The New Zealand Labour Party was an amalgamation of a number of early groups, the process of unifying these diverse groups into a single party was difficult, with tensions between different factions running strong. At the turn of the century, the side of New Zealand working class politics was represented by the Socialist Party. The more moderate leftists were generally supporters of the Liberal Party and this established the basic dividing line in New Zealands left-wing politics – the Socialists tended to be revolutionary and militant, while the moderates focused instead on progressive reform. In 1910, the Independent Political Labour League was relaunched as a called the Labour Party

New Zealand Labour Party
New Zealand Labour Party
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New Zealand Labour Party Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa
New Zealand Labour Party
New Zealand Labour Party

22.
Labour Party (Norway)
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The Labour Party, formerly the Norwegian Labour Party, is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It was formerly the senior partner of the governing Red-Green Coalition, the party is currently led by Jonas Gahr Støre. The Labour Party is officially committed to social-democratic ideals and its slogan since the 1930s has been everyone shall take part, and the party traditionally seeks a strong welfare state, funded through taxes and duties. During the first Stoltenberg government, the policies were inspired by Tony Blairs New Labour. The party has frequently described as increasingly neoliberal since the 1980s. The Labour Party profiles itself as a party that subscribes to cooperation on a national as well as international level. Its youth wing is the Workers Youth League, the party is a full member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance, and is an observer member of the Socialist International. The Labour Party has always been a supporter of Norways NATO membership and has supported Norwegian membership in the European Union during two referendums. Founded in 1887, the party increased in support until it became the largest party in Norway in 1927. This year also saw the consolidation of surrounding the party during the 1920s following its membership in the Comintern from 1919 to 1923. It formed its first government in 1928, and has led the government for all but 16 years since 1935, from 1945 to 1961, the party had an absolute majority in the Norwegian parliament, the only time this has ever happened in Norwegian history. The domination by the Labour Party, during the 1960s and early 1970s, was broken by competition from the left. From the end of the 1970s however, the party started to lose voters to the right, in 2001 the party achieved its worst electoral results since 1924. Between 2005 and 2013, Labour returned to power after committing to an agreement with other parties in order to form a majority government. Since losing 9 seats in the 2013 election, Labour has been in opposition, the party was founded in 1887 in Arendal and first ran in elections to the Parliament of Norway in 1894. It entered Parliament in 1904 after the 1903 election, and steadily increased its vote until 1927, the party were members of Comintern, a Communist organisation, between 1918 and 1923. From the establishment of Vort Arbeide in 1884, the party had a growing and notable organisation of newspapers, the party press system eventually resulted in Norsk Arbeiderpresse. In January 1913 the party had 24 newspapers, and 6 more newspapers were founded in 1913, the party also had the periodical Det 20de Aarhundre

23.
Industrial relations
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Industrial relations is a multidisciplinary field that studies the employment relationship. Indeed, some authors now define human resource management as synonymous with employee relations, other authors see employee relations as dealing only with non-unionized workers, whereas labor relations is seen as dealing with unionized workers. Industrial relations studies examine various employment situations, not just ones with a unionized workforce, however, according to Bruce E. Initiated in the United States at end of the 19th century, it took off as a field in conjunction with the New Deal. However, it is generally a separate field of only in English-speaking countries. Industrial relations has three faces, science building, problem solving, and ethical, Industrial relations scholars and practitioners therefore support institutional interventions to improve the workings of the employment relationship and to protect workers rights. The nature of these interventions, however, differ between two camps within industrial relations. The pluralist camp sees the employment relationship as a mixture of shared interests and conflicts of interests that are limited to the employment relationship. In the workplace, pluralists therefore champion grievance procedures, employee voice mechanisms such as works councils and labor unions, collective bargaining, and labor-management partnerships. In the policy arena, pluralists advocate for minimum wage laws, occupational health and safety standards, international labor standards and these institutional interventions are all seen as methods for balancing the employment relationship to generate not only economic efficiency, but also employee equity and voice. In contrast, the Marxist-inspired critical camp sees employer-employee conflicts of interest as sharply antagonistic, militant trade unions are thus frequently supported. As society wrestled with these economic and social changes, labor problems arose. Low wages, long working hours, monotonous and dangerous work, and abusive supervisory practices led to high employee turnover, violent strikes, Industrial relations thus rejected the classical econ. Institutionally, industrial relations was founded by John R. Commons when he created the first academic industrial relations program at the University of Wisconsin in 1920, another scholarly pioneer in industrial relations and labor research was Robert F. Hoxie. In Britain, another progressive industrialist, Montague Burton, endowed chairs in industrial relations at Leeds, Cardiff, beginning in the early 1930s there was a rapid increase in membership of labor unions in America, and with that came frequent and sometimes violent labor-management conflict. During World War II these were suppressed by the powers of the National War Labor Board. The most known of these was the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, but counting various forms, there were over seventy-five others. These included the Yale Labor and Management Center, directed by E. Wight Bakke, an influential industrial relations scholar in the 1940s and 1950s was Neil W. Chamberlain at Yale and Columbia Universities. The discipline was formalized in the 1950s with the formation of the Oxford School by Allan Flanders and it is this approach that underlies the New Deal legislation in the United States, such as the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act

24.
Labour economics
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Labour economics seeks to understand the functioning and dynamics of the markets for wage labour. Labour markets or job markets function through the interaction of workers and employers, Labour economics looks at the suppliers of labour services and the demanders of labour services, and attempts to understand the resulting pattern of wages, employment, and income. In economics, labour is a measure of the work done by human beings and it is conventionally contrasted with such other factors of production as land and capital. There are theories which have developed a concept called human capital, there are two sides to labour economics. Labour economics can generally be seen as the application of microeconomic or macroeconomic techniques to the labour market, microeconomic techniques study the role of individuals and individual firms in the labour market. Macroeconomic techniques look at the interrelations between the market, the goods market, the money market, and the foreign trade market. It looks at how these interactions influence macro variables such as employment levels, participation rates, aggregate income, the labour force is defined as the number of people of working age, who are either employed or actively looking for work. The participation rate is the number of people in the force divided by the size of the adult civilian noninstitutional population. The unemployment level is defined as the labour force minus the number of people currently employed, the unemployment rate is defined as the level of unemployment divided by the labour force. The employment rate is defined as the number of people currently employed divided by the adult population, in these statistics, self-employed people are counted as employed. Variables like employment level, unemployment level, labour force, and they can be contrasted with flow variables which measure a quantity over a duration of time. Changes in the force are due to flow variables such as natural population growth, net immigration, new entrants. Technological advancement often reduces frictional unemployment, for example, internet search engines have reduced the cost, structural unemployment – This reflects a mismatch between the skills and other attributes of the labour force and those demanded by employers. The process of globalization has contributed to changes in labour markets. Natural rate of unemployment – This is the summation of frictional and structural unemployment and it is the lowest rate of unemployment that a stable economy can expect to achieve, given that some frictional and structural unemployment is inevitable. Economists do not agree on the level of the rate, with estimates ranging from 1% to 5%. The estimated rate varies from country to country and from time to time, demand deficient unemployment – In Keynesian economics, any level of unemployment beyond the natural rate is probably due to insufficient goods demand in the overall economy. During a recession, aggregate expenditure is deficient causing the underutilisation of inputs, neoclassical economists view the labour market as similar to other markets in that the forces of supply and demand jointly determine price and quantity

25.
Labour law
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Labour law mediates the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions and the government. Collective labour law relates to the relationship between employee, employer and union. Individual labour law concerns employees rights at work and through the contract for work, Employment standards are social norms for the minimum socially acceptable conditions under which employees or contractors are allowed to work. Labour law arose in parallel with the Industrial Revolution as the relationship between worker and employer changed from small-scale production studios to large-scale factories, Workers sought better conditions and the right to join a labour union, while employers sought a more predictable, flexible and less costly workforce. The state of law at any one time is therefore both the product of, and a component of struggles between various social forces. As England was the first country to industrialize, it was also the first to face the often appalling consequences of industrial revolution in a less regulated economic framework. This was largely achieved through the pressure from social reformers, notably Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. A serious outbreak of fever in 1784 in cotton mills near Manchester drew widespread public opinion against the use of children in dangerous conditions. A local inquiry presided over by Dr Thomas Percival, was instituted by the justices of the peace for Lancashire, in 1802, the first major piece of labour legislation was passed − the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act. This was the first, albeit modest, step towards the protection of labour, the act limited working hours to twelve a day and abolished night work. It required the provision of a level of education for all apprentices, as well as adequate sleeping accommodation. The Factory Act of 1819 was the outcome of the efforts of the industrialist Robert Owen and prohibited child labour under nine years of age, pivotal in the campaigning for and the securing of this legislation were Michael Sadler and the Earl of Shaftesbury. This act was an important step forward, in that it mandated skilled inspection of workplaces, a lengthy campaign to limit the working day to ten hours was led by Shaftesbury, and included support from the Anglican Church. Many committees were formed in support of the cause and some established groups lent their support as well. The campaign finally led to the passage of the Factory Act of 1847 and these early efforts were principally aimed at limiting child labour. From the mid-19th century, attention was first paid to the plight of working conditions for the workforce in general, in 1850, systematic reporting of fatal accidents was made compulsory, and basic safeguards for health, life and limb in the mines were put in place from 1855. Further regulations, relating to ventilation, fencing of disused shafts, signalling standards, a series of further Acts, in 1860 and 1872 extended the legal provisions and strengthened safety provisions. The same Act included the first comprehensive code of regulation to govern legal safeguards for health, life, the presence of a more certified and competent management and increased levels of inspection were also provided for

26.
Price floor
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A price floor is a government- or group-imposed price control or limit on how low a price can be charged for a product. A price floor must be higher than the price in order to be effective. A price floor can be set below the equilibrium price. In the first graph at right, the green line represents a price floor set below the free-market price. In this case, the floor has no practical effect, the government has mandated a minimum price, but the market already bears a higher price. By contrast, in the graph, the dashed green line represents a price floor set above the free-market price. In this case, the floor has a measurable impact on the market. It ensures prices stay high so that product can continue to be made, a price floor set above the market equilibrium price has several side-effects. Consumers find they must now pay a price for the same product. As a result, they reduce their purchases or drop out of the market entirely, meanwhile, suppliers find they are guaranteed a new, higher price than they were charging before. As a result, they increase production, taken together, these effects mean there is now an excess supply of the product in the market to maintain the price floor over the long term. The equilibrium price is determined when the quantity demanded is equal to the quantity supplied, further, the effect of mandating a higher price transfers some of the consumer surplus to producer surplus, while creating a deadweight loss as the price moves upward from the equilibrium price. An example of a floor is minimum wage laws, in this case, employees are the suppliers of labor. When the minimum wage is set above the market price for unskilled labor. However, workers would have higher wages, the equilibrium wage for workers would be dependent upon their skill sets along with market conditions. This model makes several assumptions which may not hold true in reality and it assumes the costs of providing labor are below the minimum wage, and that employment status and wages are not sticky. Some current research has shown that in the US, at least, unemployment in the United States, however, only includes participants of the labor force, which excludes 37. 2% of Americans as of June 2016. Previously, price floors in agriculture have been common around Europe, nowadays the EU uses a softer method, if the price falls below an intervention price, the EU buys the product so much that this decrease in supply raises the price to the intervention price level

27.
Minimum wage law
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Minimum wage law is the body of law which prohibits employers from hiring employees or workers for less than a given hourly, daily or monthly minimum wage. More than 90% of all countries have some kind of minimum wage legislation, until recently, minimum wage laws were usually very tightly focused. In the U. S. and Great Britain, for example, only after the Great Depression did many industrialized economies extend them to the general work force. Even then, the laws were specific to certain industries. In France, for example, they were extensions of existing trade union legislation, in the U. S. industry specific wage restrictions were held to be unconstitutional. The countrys Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 established a national minimum wage for nonfarm. Coverage was later extended to most of the labor force, the first moves to legislate wages did not set minimum wages, rather the laws created arbitration boards and councils to resolve labour conflicts before the recourse to strikes. In 1896 in Victoria, Australia, an amendment to the Factories Act provided for the creation of a wages board, the wages board did not set a universal minimum wage, rather it set basic wages for 6 industries that were considered to pay low wages. First enacted as an experiment, the wages board was renewed in 1900 and made permanent in 1904. By 1902, other Australian states, such as New South Wales, the notion of a basic wage was established in 1907 with the Harvester Judgment. In Australia, on 14 December 2005, the Australian Fair Pay Commission was established under the Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2005, the Australian Fair Pay Commission was replaced by Fair Work Australia in 2010. Australian Fair Work Ombudsman, Minimum Wages Fact Sheet The Brazilian national minimum wage is adjusted annually, the minimum wage in 2009 was R$465 per month. In 2010, the Brazilian minimum wage increased to R$545 per month, in 2012, Brazilian minimum wage was increased to R$622 per month. Brazilian states can set higher minimum wages, which may vary in different economic sectors and this means that each province and territory has its own minimum wage. Some provinces allow lower wages to be paid to liquor servers and other tip earners, the federal government could theoretically set its own minimum wage rates for workers in federal jurisdiction industries. As of 2006 however, the minimum wage is defined to be the general adult minimum wage rate of the province or territory where the work is performed. This means, for example, that a railway company could not legally pay a worker in British Columbia less than $10.45 an hour regardless of the workers experience. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security set the Peoples Republic of Chinas first minimum wage law on 1 March 2004

Minimum wage law
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History of the federal minimum wage in real and nominal dollars in the United States.

28.
Poverty reduction
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Poverty reduction, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. In modern times, various economists within the Georgism movement propose measures like the land tax to enhance access to the natural world for all. Poverty occurs in developing countries and developed countries. While poverty is more widespread in developing countries, both types of countries undertake poverty reduction measures. Poverty has been accepted in some parts of the world as inevitable as non-industrialized economies produced very little while populations grew almost as fast. Poverty reduction has been largely as a result of economic growth. Food shortages were common before modern technology and in places that lack them today, such as nitrogen fertilizers, pesticides. The dawn of industrial revolution led to economic growth, eliminating mass poverty in what is now considered the developed world. World GDP per person quintupled during the 20th century, in 1820, 75% of humanity lived on less than a dollar a day, while in 2001, only about 20% do. Today, continued development is constrained by the lack of economic freedoms. Economic liberalization requires extending property rights to the poor, especially to land, financial services, notably savings, can be made accessible to the poor through technology, such as mobile banking. Inefficient institutions, corruption and political instability can also discourage investment, aid and government support in health, education and infrastructure helps growth by increasing human and physical capital. Poverty alleviation also involves improving the conditions of people who are already poor. Aid, particularly in medical and scientific areas, is essential in providing better lives, such as the Green Revolution and the eradication of smallpox. Problems with todays development aid include the high proportion of tied aid, nevertheless, some believe that small changes in the way each of us in affluent nations lives our lives could solve world poverty. Many also argue that property rights protection to the poor is one of the most important poverty reduction strategies a nation can implement. Securing property rights to land, the largest asset for most societies, is vital to their economic freedom, the World Bank concludes that increasing land rights is ‘the key to reducing poverty’ citing that land rights greatly increase poor people’s wealth, in some cases doubling it. It is estimated that state recognition of the property of the poor would give them assets worth 40 times all the aid since 1945

29.
Sweatshop
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Sweatshop is a pejorative term for a workplace that has poor, socially unacceptable working conditions. The work may be difficult, dangerous, or underpaid, Workers in sweatshops may work long hours with low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage, child labor laws may also be violated. A sweatshop is a factory or workshop, especially in the clothing industry, the workplaces created for the sweating system, a system of subcontracting in the tailoring trade were called sweatshops and might contain only a few workers or as many as 100 and more. In the 1890s, a group calling itself the National Anti-Sweating League was formed in Melbourne, a group with the same name campaigned from 1906 in the UK, resulting in the Trade Boards Act 1909. In 1910, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union was founded to try to improve the condition of these workers, criticism of garment sweatshops became a major force behind workplace safety regulation and labor laws. As some journalists strove to change working conditions, the term came to refer to a broader set of workplaces whose conditions were considered inferior. In the United States, investigative journalists, known as muckrakers, wrote exposés of business practices, notable exposés of sweatshop conditions include Jacob Riis photo documentary How the Other Half Lives and Upton Sinclairs book, The Jungle, about the meat packing industry. In 1911, negative perceptions of sweatshops were galvanized by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City. The pivotal role of time and place is chronicled at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. This recent definition eliminates any historical distinction about the role of a middleman or the items produced, sometimes penal labor facilities are grouped under the sweatshop label. Sweatshops conditions resemble prison labor in many cases, especially from a commonly found Western perspective, in 2014 Apple was caught failing to protect its workers in one of its Pegatron factories. Overwhelmed workers were caught falling asleep during their 12-hour shifts and a reporter had to work 18 days in a row. Sweatshops in question carry characteristics such as pregnancy tests for female laborers. Workers then go into a state of forced labor, if one day of work is not accounted for. These working conditions have been the source of suicidal unrest within factories in the past, chinese sweatshops known to have increased numbers of suicidal employees have suicide nets covering the whole site, in place to stop over-worked and stressed employees leaping to their deaths. Sweatshops have proved an issue to resolve because their roots lie in the conceptual foundations of the world economy. Developing countries like India, China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Honduras encourage the outsourcing of work from the world to provide work for their people. Outsourced work can, at times, bring some form of wealth to impoverished countries, regardless of Western labor concerns, people living in poor conditions prefer low wages to none at all

Sweatshop
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A sweatshop c.1890
Sweatshop
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Members of United Students Against Sweatshops marching in protest.

30.
Fair price
–
In accounting and in most Schools of economic thought, fair value is a rational and unbiased estimate of the potential market price of a good, service, or asset. Under US GAAP, fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in a transaction between market participants at the measurement date. This is used for assets whose carrying value is based on mark-to-market valuations, for assets carried at historical cost, one example of where fair value is an issue is a college kitchen with a cost of $2 million which was built five years ago. If the owners wanted to put a fair value measurement on the kitchen it would be an estimate because there is no active market for such items or items similar to this one. If XYZ purchased a similar two-acre tract of land in 2005 for $2 million, even if the two pieces of land were virtually identical, ABC would report an asset with one-half the value of XYZ’s land, historical cost is unable to identify that the two items are similar. This problem is compounded when numerous assets and liabilities are reported at historical cost, if, however, ABC and XYZ reported financial information using fair-value accounting, then both would report an asset of $2 million. The fair-value balance sheet provides information for investors who are interested in the current value of assets and liabilities, behavioral finance asserts that the market price often diverges from fair value because of various, common cognitive biases among buyers or sellers. It requires the assessment of the price that is fair between two specific parties taking into account the respective advantages or disadvantages that each will gain from the transaction, although Market Value may meet these criteria, this is not necessarily always the case. In other words Special Value may be generated, Market Value requires this element of Special Value to be disregarded, but it forms part of the assessment of Fair Value. The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No,157, Fair Value Measurements in September 2006 to provide guidance about how entities should determine fair value estimations for financial reporting purposes. FAS157 broadly applies to financial and nonfinancial assets and liabilities measured at fair value under other authoritative accounting pronouncements, however, application to nonfinancial assets and liabilities was deferred until 2009. The goal of this framework is to eliminate the inconsistencies between balance sheet numbers and income statement numbers and this is sometimes referred to as exit value. In the futures market, fair value is the price for a futures contract. This is equal to the price after taking into account compounded interest over a certain period of time. On the other side of the sheet the fair value of a liability is the amount at which that liability could be incurred or settled in a current transaction. Topic 820 emphasizes the use of inputs in estimating the fair value for an asset or liability. Quoted prices, credit data, yield curve, etc. are examples of market inputs described by Topic 820, Topic 820 emphasizes that assumptions used to estimate fair value should be from the perspective of an unrelated market participant. This necessitates identification of the market in which the asset or liability trades, if more than one market is available, Topic 820 requires the use of the most advantageous market

31.
Winston Churchill
–
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD PC DL FRS RA was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his overall, in 1963, he was the first of only eight people to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. Churchill was born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough and his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, his mother, Jennie Jerome, was an American socialite. As a young officer, he saw action in British India, the Anglo–Sudan War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and wrote books about his campaigns, at the forefront of politics for fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, during the war, he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He then briefly resumed active service on the Western Front as commander of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government under Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister and he led Britain as Prime Minister until victory over Nazi Germany had been secured. After the Conservative Party suffered a defeat in the 1945 general election. He publicly warned of an Iron Curtain of Soviet influence in Europe, after winning the 1951 election, Churchill again became Prime Minister. His second term was preoccupied by foreign affairs, including the Malayan Emergency, Mau Mau Uprising, Korean War, domestically his government laid great emphasis on house-building. Churchill suffered a stroke in 1953 and retired as Prime Minister in 1955. Upon his death aged ninety in 1965, Elizabeth II granted him the honour of a state funeral and his highly complex legacy continues to stimulate intense debate amongst writers and historians. Born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough, a branch of the noble Spencer family, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, like his father. His ancestor George Spencer had changed his surname to Spencer-Churchill in 1817 when he became Duke of Marlborough, to highlight his descent from John Churchill, Churchill was born on 30 November 1874, two months prematurely, in a bedroom in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. From age two to six, he lived in Dublin, where his grandfather had been appointed Viceroy, Churchills brother, John Strange Spencer-Churchill, was born during this time in Ireland

32.
Hansard
–
Hansard is the traditional name of the transcripts of Parliamentary Debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard, a London printer and publisher, though the history of the Hansard began in the British parliament, each of Britains colonies developed a separate and distinctive history. Before 1771, the British Parliament had long been a highly secretive body, the official record of the actions of the House was publicly available, but there was no record of the debates. The publication of remarks made in the House became a breach of Parliamentary privilege, as the populace became interested in parliamentary debates, more independent newspapers began publishing unofficial accounts of them. Several editors used the device of veiling parliamentary debates as debates of fictitious societies or bodies, the names under which parliamentary debates were published include Proceedings of the Lower Room of the Robin Hood Society and Debates of the Senate of Magna Lilliputia. The Senate of Magna Lilliputia was printed in Edward Caves The Gentlemans Magazine, the names of the speakers were carefully filleted, for example, Sir Robert Walpole was thinly disguised as Sr. R―t W―le. In 1771 Brass Crosby, who was Lord Mayor of the City of London, had brought him a printer by the name of John Miller who dared publish reports of Parliamentary proceedings. He released the man, but was ordered to appear before the House to explain his actions. Crosby was committed to the Tower of London, but when he was brought to trial, several judges refused to hear the case and after protests from the public, Crosby was released. Parliament ceased to punish the publishing of its debates as harshly, partly due to the campaigns of John Wilkes on behalf of free speech, there then began several attempts to publish reports of debates. Among the early successes, the Parliamentary Register published by John Almon and John Debrett began in 1775, cobbetts avocation for the freedom of the press was severely punished by the British Government. On June 5,1810 William Cobbett stood trial for libel for an article he wrote against the British Government which was published by Thomas Curson Hansard. Cobbett was found guilty, upon the fullest and most satisfactory evidence, the sentence was described by J. C Trewin as vindictive. Cobbetts Parliamentary Debates became Hansard Parliamentary Debates, abbreviated over time to the now familiar Hansard, from 1829 the name Hansard appeared on the title page of each issue. Neither Cobbett nor Hansard ever employed anyone to take notes of the debates. For this reason, early editions of Hansard are not to be relied upon as a guide to everything discussed in Parliament. The last attempt at a rival was The Times which published debates in the 1880s. In 1878 a subsidy was granted to the Hansard press and at that point reporters were employed, despite hiring contract reporters there were still widespread complaints about the accuracy of the debates

Hansard
–
Hansard title page from 1832
Hansard
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Sample of Hansard from The House of Commons, 1895. Shows sample of several members speaking as described in the text.
Hansard
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Cover page of Hansard for the Province of Ontario, February 12, 1953

33.
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
–
The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is the lower house of the countrys parliament. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The House is a body consisting of 650 members known as Members of Parliament. Members are elected to represent constituencies by first-past-the-post and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved, under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The Government is primarily responsible to the House of Commons and the prime minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members. Although it does not formally elect the prime minister, the position of the parties in the House of Commons is of overriding importance, by convention, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Since 1963, by convention, the minister is always a member of the House of Commons. The Commons may indicate its lack of support for the Government by rejecting a motion of confidence or by passing a motion of no confidence, confidence and no confidence motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance, That this House has no confidence in Her Majestys Government. Many other motions were considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such, in particular, important bills that form a part of the Governments agenda were formerly considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget. Parliament normally sits for a term of five years. Subject to that limit, the minister could formerly choose the timing of the dissolution of parliament. By this second mechanism, the government of the United Kingdom can change without a general election. In such circumstances there may not even have been a party leadership election, as the new leader may be chosen by acclaim. A prime minister may resign if he or she is not defeated at the polls. In such a case, the premiership goes to whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons, in practice this is usually the new leader of the outgoing prime ministers party. Until 1965, the Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader, when Anthony Eden resigned as PM in 1957 without recommending a successor and it fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new prime minister, after taking the advice of ministers. By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords, a handful have been appointed who were outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament either in a by-election or by receiving a peerage. Since 1902, all ministers have been members of the Commons

House of Commons of the United Kingdom
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
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The House of Commons in the early 19th century by Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson.
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
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Another picture of the old House of Commons chamber. Note the dark veneer on the wood, which was purposely made much brighter in the new chamber.

34.
Ordinance of Labourers 1349
–
The Ordinance of Labourers 1349 is often considered to be the start of English labour law. Specifically, it fixed wages and imposed price controls, required all those under the age of 60 to work, prohibited the enticing away of anothers servants, the ordinance was issued in response to the 1348−1350 outbreak of the Black Death in England. During this outbreak, an estimated 30−40% of the population died, the decline in population left surviving workers in great demand in the agricultural economy of Britain. Landowners had to face the choice of raising wages to compete for workers or letting their lands go unused, wages for labourers rose and translated into inflation across the economy as goods became more expensive to produce. The wealthy elites suffered under the economic shift. Difficulties in hiring labour created frustration, john Gower commented on post-plague labourers, they are sluggish, they are scarce, and they are grasping. For the very little they do they demand the highest pay, on the other hand, while some workers suffered from increasing prices, others benefited from the higher wages they could command during this period of labour shortage. The law was issued by King Edward III of England on 18 June 1349, the ordinance required several things including, Everyone under 60 must work. While the economic situation eventually reverted, the plague radically altered the structure of English society. It was later repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863, Complete text of the Ordinance of Labourers,1349, from Sources of British History Complete text of the Ordinance of Labourers,1349, from Fordham University

Ordinance of Labourers 1349
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Nantwich workhouse

35.
Edward III of England
–
Edward III transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. Edward was crowned at age fourteen after his father was deposed by his mother, Isabella of France, at age seventeen he led a successful coup against Mortimer, the de facto ruler of the country, and began his personal reign. After a successful campaign in Scotland he declared himself heir to the French throne in 1337. This started what would become known as the Hundred Years War, following some initial setbacks the war went exceptionally well for England, victories at Crécy and Poitiers led to the highly favourable Treaty of Brétigny. Edwards later years, however, were marked by international failure and domestic strife, largely as a result of his inactivity, Edward III was a temperamental man but capable of unusual clemency. He was in ways a conventional king whose main interest was warfare. Admired in his own time and for centuries after, Edward was denounced as an adventurer by later Whig historians such as William Stubbs. This view has been challenged recently and modern historians credit him with some significant achievements, Edward was born at Windsor Castle on 13 November 1312, and was often referred to as Edward of Windsor in his early years. The reign of his father, Edward II, was a problematic period of English history. One source of contention was the inactivity, and repeated failure. Another controversial issue was the kings patronage of a small group of royal favourites. The birth of an heir in 1312 temporarily improved Edward IIs position in relation to the baronial opposition. To bolster further the independent prestige of the prince, the king had him created Earl of Chester at only twelve days of age. In 1325, Edward II was faced with a demand from his brother-in-law, Charles IV of France, Edward was reluctant to leave the country, as discontent was once again brewing domestically, particularly over his relationship with the favourite Hugh Despenser the Younger. Instead, he had his son Edward created Duke of Aquitaine in his place, the young Edward was accompanied by his mother Isabella, who was the sister of King Charles, and was meant to negotiate a peace treaty with the French. While in France, however, Isabella conspired with the exiled Roger Mortimer to have Edward deposed, to build up diplomatic and military support for the venture, Isabella had Prince Edward engaged to the twelve-year-old Philippa of Hainault. An invasion of England was launched and Edward IIs forces deserted him completely, the king was forced to relinquish the throne to his son on 25 January 1327. The new king was crowned as Edward III on 1 February 1327 and it was not long before the new reign also met with other problems caused by the central position at court of Roger Mortimer, who was now the de facto ruler of England

Edward III of England
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Edward III, detail from his bronze effigy in Westminster Abbey
Edward III of England
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Drawing of effigy of King Edward III in Westminster Abbey
Edward III of England
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To mark his claim to the French crown, Edward's coat of arms showed the three lions of England quartered with the fleurs-de-lys of France. English stained glass, c. 1350–1377
Edward III of England
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Groat featuring Edward III

36.
Medieval England
–
England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the medieval period, from the end of the 5th century through to the start of the Early Modern period in 1485. When England emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, the economy was in tatters, after several centuries of Germanic immigration, new identities and cultures began to emerge, developing into predatory kingdoms that competed for power. A rich artistic culture flourished under the Anglo-Saxons, producing epic poems such as Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity in the 7th century and a network of monasteries and convents were built across England. The Norman invasion of England in 1066 led to the defeat and replacement of the Anglo-Saxon elite with Norman and French nobles, William the Conqueror and his successors took over the existing state system, repressing local revolts and controlling the population through a network of castles. The new rulers introduced an approach to governing England, eradicating the practice of slavery. The position of women in society changed as laws regarding land, Englands population more than doubled during the 12th and 13th centuries, fuelling an expansion of the towns, cities and trade, helped by warmer temperatures across Northern Europe. A new wave of monasteries and friaries were established, while ecclesiastical reforms led to tensions between successive kings and archbishops, despite developments in Englands governance and legal system, infighting between the Anglo-Norman elite resulted in multiple civil wars and the loss of Normandy. Nearly 1,500 villages were deserted by their inhabitants and many men and women sought new opportunities in the towns, new technologies were introduced, and England produced some of the great medieval philosophers and natural scientists. English kings in the 14th and 15th centuries laid claim to the French throne, more social unrest broke out, followed by the Wars of the Roses, fought between rival factions in the English nobility. Henry VIIs victory in 1485 typically marks the end of the Middle Ages in England, at the start of the Middle Ages, England was a part of Britannia, a former province of the Roman Empire. The English economy had once dominated by imperial Roman spending on a large military establishment, which in turn helped to support a complex network of towns, roads. At the end of the 4th century, however, Roman forces had largely withdrawn. Germanic immigrants began to arrive in increasing numbers during the 5th century, initially peacefully, establishing small farms, in the 7th century, the kingdom of Mercia rose to prominence under the leadership of King Penda. Mercia invaded neighbouring lands until it loosely controlled around 50 regiones covering much of England, Mercia and the remaining kingdoms, led by their warrior elites, continued to compete for territory throughout the 8th century. Massive earthworks, such as the dyke built by Offa of Mercia, helped to defend key frontiers. Mercia and Northumbria fell in 875 and 876, and Alfred of Wessex was driven into exile in 878. Suppressing internal opposition to his rule, Alfred contained the invaders within a known as the Danelaw. The West Saxon rulers were now kings of the Angelcynn, that is of the whole English folk, with the death of Edgar, however, the royal succession became problematic

37.
Serfs
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Serfdom is the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism. It was a condition of bondage, which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe, serfs were often required not only to work on the lords fields, but also his mines, forests and roads. The decline of serfdom in Western Europe has sometimes been attributed to the Black Death, Serfdom became increasingly rare in most of Western Europe after the Renaissance, but conversely, it grew strong in Central and Eastern Europe, where it had previously been less common. In Eastern Europe the institution persisted until the mid-19th century, in the Austrian Empire serfdom was abolished by the 1781 Serfdom Patent, corvée continued to exist until 1848. Serfdom was abolished in Russia in the 1860s, in Finland, Norway and Sweden, feudalism was never fully established, and serfdom did not exist, however, serfdom-like institutions did exist in both Denmark and its vassal Iceland. According to Joseph R. Strayer, the concept of feudalism can also be applied to the societies of ancient Persia, ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Muslim India, China, james Lee and Cameron Campbell describe the Chinese Qing dynasty as also maintaining a form of serfdom. Tibet is described by Melvyn Goldstein to have had serfdom until 1959, bhutan is described by Tashi Wangchuk, a Bhutanese civil servant, as abolishing serfdom officially by 1959, but Wangchuk believes less than or about 10% of poor peasants were in copyhold situations. The United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery also prohibits serfdom as a form of slavery, the word serf originated from the Middle French serf and can be traced further back to the Latin servus. In Late Antiquity and most of the Middle Ages, what are now called serfs were usually designated in Latin as coloni. As slavery gradually disappeared and the status of servi became nearly identical to that of the coloni. Serfs had a place in feudal society, as did barons and knights, in return for protection. Thus the manorial system exhibited a degree of reciprocity, one rationale held that a serf worked for all while a knight or baron fought for all and a churchman prayed for all, thus everyone had a place. The serf was the worst fed and rewarded, but at least he had his place and, unlike slaves, had rights in land. A lord of the manor could not sell his serfs as a Roman might sell his slaves and this unified system preserved for the lord long-acquired knowledge of practices suited to the land. Further, a serf could not abandon his lands without permission, a freeman became a serf usually through force or necessity. Sometimes the greater physical and legal force of a local magnate intimidated freeholders or allodial owners into dependency, often a few years of crop failure, a war, or brigandage might leave a person unable to make his own way. In such a case he could strike a bargain with a lord of a manor, in exchange for protection, service was required, in cash, produce or labour, or a combination of all. These oaths bound the lord and his new serf in a feudal contract, to become a serf was a commitment that encompassed all aspects of the serfs life

38.
Black Plague
–
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia and peaking in Europe in the years 1346–1353. The Black Death is thought to have originated in the plains of Central Asia. From there, it was most likely carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships. Spreading throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, the Black Death is estimated to have killed 30–60% of Europes total population, in total, the plague may have reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century. The world population as a whole did not recover to pre-plague levels until the 17th century, the plague recurred occasionally in Europe until the 19th century. The plague created a series of religious, social, and economic upheavals, in October 2010, medical geneticists suggested that all three of the great waves of the plague originated in China. In China, the 13th-century Mongol conquest caused a decline in farming and trading, however, economic recovery had been observed at the beginning of the 14th century. In the 1330s, a number of natural disasters and plagues led to widespread famine, starting in 1331. Epidemics that may have included plague killed an estimated 25 million Chinese, the disease may have travelled along the Silk Road with Mongol armies and traders or it could have come via ship. By the end of 1346, reports of plague had reached the seaports of Europe, India was depopulated, Tartary, Plague was reportedly first introduced to Europe via Genoese traders at the port city of Kaffa in the Crimea in 1347. After a protracted siege, during which the Mongol army under Jani Beg was suffering from the disease, the Genoese traders fled, taking the plague by ship into Sicily and the south of Europe, whence it spread north. Whether or not this hypothesis is accurate, it is clear that several existing conditions such as war, famine, there appear to have been several introductions into Europe. The plague reached Sicily in October 1347, carried by twelve Genoese galleys, galleys from Kaffa reached Genoa and Venice in January 1348, but it was the outbreak in Pisa a few weeks later that was the entry point to northern Italy. Towards the end of January, one of the galleys expelled from Italy arrived in Marseille. From Italy, the disease spread northwest across Europe, striking France, Spain, Portugal and England by June 1348, then turned and spread east through Germany and it was introduced in Norway in 1349 when a ship landed at Askøy, then spread to Bjørgvin and Iceland. Finally it spread to northwestern Russia in 1351, modern researchers do not think that the plague ever became endemic in Europe or its rat population. The disease repeatedly wiped out the rodent carriers so that the fleas died out until a new outbreak from Central Asia repeated the process. The outbreaks have been shown to occur roughly 15 years after a warmer and wetter period in areas where plague is endemic in other such as gerbils

Black Plague
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A hand showing how acral gangrene of the fingers due to bubonic plague causes the skin and flesh to die and turn black
Black Plague
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Spread of the Black Death in Europe (1346–53)
Black Plague
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An inguinal bubo on the upper thigh of a person infected with bubonic plague. Swollen lymph glands (buboes) often occur in the neck, armpit and groin (inguinal) regions of plague victims
Black Plague
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Yersinia pestis (200x magnification). The bacterium which causes bubonic plague.

39.
Justice of the Peace
–
A justice of the peace is a judicial officer, of a lower or puisne court, elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was used with the same meaning. Depending on the jurisdiction, such justices dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions, some jurisdictions have varying forms of training for JPs. In 1195, Richard I of England and his Minister Hubert Walter commissioned certain knights to preserve the peace in unruly areas and they were responsible to the King for ensuring that the law was upheld and preserving the Kings peace. Therefore, they were known as keepers of the peace, the title justice of the peace derives from 1361, in the reign of Edward III. The peace to be guarded is the sovereigns, the maintenance of which is the duty of the Crown under the royal prerogative, Justices of the peace still use the power conferred or re-conferred on them since 1361 to bind over unruly persons to be of good behaviour. The bind over is not a punishment, but a preventive measure, the justices alternative title of magistrate dates from the 16th century, although the word had been in use centuries earlier to describe some legal officials of Roman times. Being an unpaid office, undertaken voluntarily and sometimes more for the sake of renown or to confirm the justices standing within the community, the justices of the peace conducted arraignments in all criminal cases, and tried misdemeanours and infractions of local ordinances and bylaws. The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 stripped the power to appoint normal JPs from those municipal corporations that had it and this was replaced by the present system, where the Lord Chancellor nominates candidates with local advice, for appointment by the Crown. Until the introduction of elected county councils in the 19th century, JPs, in quarter sessions, also administered the county at a local level. Women were not allowed to become JPs in the United Kingdom until 1919, the first woman being Ada Summers, the Mayor of Stalybridge, emily Murphy of Edmonton, Canada, preceded her by some three and a half years. Now in the UK, 50% of JPs are women, in special circumstances, a justice of the peace can be the highest governmental representative, so in fact gubernatorial, in a colonial entity. This was the case in the Tati Concessions Land, a concession in the Matabele kingdom. Criteria for appointment vary widely, depending on the state, for example, in Queensland, a justice of the peace must complete an exam prior to being eligible for appointment, whereas in Victoria, a person need only prove good character by way of references. Generally speaking, a justice of the peace cannot act in relation to a document which is to be used in a foreign country. One exception to this, however, is that countries in the Commonwealth frequently accept documents so certified, documents which are to be used in a foreign country that does not provide for a foreign JP to witness them should be dealt with by a notary public. This is the same for all countries where the office of justice of the peace exists, notaries public are often solicitors or barristers, and the best way to locate one is to contact your local law society. Some justices are appointed as justice of the peace, usually in remote aboriginal communities, in Queensland, a lawyer may be appointed as a Justice of the Peace without further education or qualification and has the full powers of a JP

Justice of the Peace

40.
King James I
–
James VI and I was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death. The kingdoms of Scotland and England were individual sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciary, and laws, though both were ruled by James in personal union. James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, James succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of thirteen months, after his mother Mary was compelled to abdicate in his favour. Four different regents governed during his minority, which ended officially in 1578, in 1603, he succeeded the last Tudor monarch of England and Ireland, Elizabeth I, who died without issue. He continued to reign in all three kingdoms for 22 years, a period known after him as the Jacobean era, until his death in 1625 at the age of 58. After the Union of the Crowns, he based himself in England from 1603, only returning to Scotland once in 1617 and he was a major advocate of a single parliament for England and Scotland. In his reign, the Plantation of Ulster and British colonization of the Americas began, at 57 years and 246 days, Jamess reign in Scotland was longer than those of any of his predecessors. He achieved most of his aims in Scotland but faced difficulties in England, including the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. James himself was a scholar, the author of works such as Daemonologie, The True Law of Free Monarchies. He sponsored the translation of the Bible that would later be named after him, Sir Anthony Weldon claimed that James had been termed the wisest fool in Christendom, an epithet associated with his character ever since. Since the latter half of the 20th century, historians have tended to revise Jamess reputation and treat him as a serious, James was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Both Mary and Darnley were great-grandchildren of Henry VII of England through Margaret Tudor, Marys rule over Scotland was insecure, and she and her husband, being Roman Catholics, faced a rebellion by Protestant noblemen. James was born on 19 June 1566 at Edinburgh Castle, and as the eldest son and heir apparent of the monarch automatically became Duke of Rothesay and Prince and he was baptised Charles James or James Charles on 17 December 1566 in a Catholic ceremony held at Stirling Castle. His godparents were Charles IX of France, Elizabeth I of England, Mary refused to let the Archbishop of St Andrews, whom she referred to as a pocky priest, spit in the childs mouth, as was then the custom. The subsequent entertainment, devised by Frenchman Bastian Pagez, featured men dressed as satyrs and sporting tails, Jamess father, Darnley, was murdered on 10 February 1567 at Kirk o Field, Edinburgh, perhaps in revenge for Rizzios death. James inherited his fathers titles of Duke of Albany and Earl of Ross, Mary was already unpopular, and her marriage on 15 May 1567 to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was widely suspected of murdering Darnley, heightened widespread bad feeling towards her. In June 1567, Protestant rebels arrested Mary and imprisoned her in Loch Leven Castle and she was forced to abdicate on 24 July 1567 in favour of the infant James and to appoint her illegitimate half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, as regent. The care of James was entrusted to the Earl and Countess of Mar, to be conserved, nursed, and upbrought in the security of Stirling Castle

King James I
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Portrait by Daniel Mytens, 1621
King James I
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Portrait of James as a boy, after Arnold Bronckorst, 1574
King James I
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James (right) depicted beside his mother Mary (left). In reality, they were separated when he was still a baby.
King James I
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James in 1586, age 20

41.
History of capitalism
–
The history of capitalism can be traced back to early forms of merchant capitalism practiced in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It began to develop into its modern form during the Early Modern period in the Protestant countries of North-Western Europe, especially the Netherlands and England. Traders in Amsterdam and London created the first chartered joint-stock companies driving up commerce and trade, much of the history of the past five hundred years is concerned with the development of capitalism in its various forms. Since 2000 the new field of History of Capitalism has appeared. It includes topics such as insurance, banking and regulation, the dimension, and the impact on the middle classes. Manorial arrangements inhibited the development of capitalism in a number of ways, the lords who owned the land relied on force to guarantee that they were provided with sufficient food. Because lords were not producing to sell on the market, there was no pressure for them to innovate. The demographic crisis of the fourteenth century upset this arrangement and these factors led to a decline in agricultural production. In response, feudal lords sought to expand production by expanding their domains through warfare. Some moved to towns, some purchased land, and some entered into favorable contracts to rent lands from lords who needed to repopulate their estates. The collapse of the system in England created a class of tenant farmers with more freedom to market their goods. Marx labeled this period the pre-history of capitalism, in effect, feudalism began to lay some of the foundations necessary for the development of mercantilism, a precursor of capitalism. Feudalism was mostly confined to Europe and lasted from the period through the sixteenth century. Feudal manors were almost entirely self-sufficient, and therefore limited the role of the market and this stifled any incipient tendency towards capitalism. However, the sudden emergence of new technologies and discoveries, particularly in agriculture and exploration. The most important development at the end of feudalism was the emergence of what Robert Degan calls the dichotomy between wage earners and capitalist merchants, the transition from feudalism to early forms of capitalism happened in periods differing by country. According to Cambridge political philosopher and historian Quentin Skinner, the towns of northern Italy were the first urbanized parts of Europe, dating to the twelfth century. German bishop Otto of Freising recorded the growth of life in Germany, the loyalty of landed nobility to town authorities, and the emergence of republicanism

History of capitalism
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Map of a medieval manor. Notice the large commons area and the division of land into small strips. The mustard-colored areas are part of the demesne, the hatched areas part of the glebe. William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas, 01923
History of capitalism
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Max Weber's model of capitalist development
History of capitalism
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Decaying hedges mark the lines of the straight field boundaries created by a Parliamentary Act of Enclosure.
History of capitalism
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A painting of a French seaport from 1638, at the height of mercantilism.

42.
Trade unions
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The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or unions is maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment and this may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies. Unions may organize a section of skilled workers, a cross-section of workers from various trades. The agreements negotiated by a union are binding on the rank and file members, originating in Great Britain, trade unions became popular in many countries during the Industrial Revolution. Trade unions may be composed of workers, professionals, past workers, students. Trade union density, or the percentage of workers belonging to a union, is highest in the Nordic countries. The trade unions aim at nothing less than to prevent the reduction of wages below the level that is maintained in the various branches of industry. That is to say, they wish to prevent the price of labour-power from falling below its value, yet historian R. A. the other the aggressive-expansionist drive to unite all labouring men and women for a different order of things. The 18th century economist Adam Smith noted the imbalance in the rights of workers in regards to owners. In The Wealth of Nations, Book I, chapter 8, Smith wrote, We rarely hear, it has said, of the combination of masters. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labor above their actual rate When workers combine, masters. As Smith noted, unions were illegal for many years in most countries, there were severe penalties for attempting to organize unions, up to and including execution. This pool of unskilled and semi-skilled labour spontaneously organized in fits and starts throughout its beginnings, Trade unions and collective bargaining were outlawed from no later than the middle of the 14th century when the Ordinance of Labourers was enacted in the Kingdom of England. In 1799, the Combination Act was passed, which banned trade unions, although the unions were subject to often severe repression until 1824, they were already widespread in cities such as London. Sympathy for the plight of the workers brought repeal of the acts in 1824, by the 1810s, the first labour organizations to bring together workers of divergent occupations were formed. Possibly the first such union was the General Union of Trades, also known as the Philanthropic Society, the latter name was to hide the organizations real purpose in a time when trade unions were still illegal. The Association quickly enrolled approximately 150 unions, consisting mostly of textile related unions, but also including mechanics, blacksmiths, and various others

43.
Principles of Political Economy
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Principles of Political Economy by John Stuart Mill was one of the most important economics or political economy textbooks of the mid-nineteenth century. It was revised until its seventh edition in 1871, shortly before Mills death in 1873, along with A System of Logic, Principles of Political Economy established Mills reputation as a leading public intellectual. Mills sympathetic attitude in this work and in other essays toward contemporary socialism, particularly Fourierism, Mills Principles were written in a style of prose far flung from the introductory texts of today. Devoid of the graphs and formulae that were only developed after his death. His book continued to be used well into the century as the foundational textbook. Preliminary remarks I Of the Requisites of Production Mill explores the nature of production, beginning with labour and he starts by stating, that the requisites of production are two, labour, and appropriate natural objects. A discussion follows of mans connection to the world. He uses an array of imagery, from the sewing of cloth, to the turning of wheels. Man has found a way to harness nature, so that the action necessary for this is not constantly renewed, but performed once for all. He then turns on the view of who takes the credit for industry, in this, however, there seems much confusion of ideas. The part which nature has in any work of man, is indefinite and it is impossible to decide that in any one thing nature does more than in any other. One cannot even say that labour does less, less labour may be required, but if that which is required is absolutely indispensable, the result is just as much the product of labour, as of nature. He refers to former French Economists and Adam Smith, who thought land rents were higher because there was more nature being provided, in fact, says Mill, the simple answer is that land is scarce, which is what enables greater rent exaction. He mentions that things are limited in abundance, for instance, Arctic whale fishing. II Of Labour as an Agent of Production III Of Unproductive Labour IV Of Capital Capital and he gives an example of the consumption of food, as opposed to assets allocated for production. Capital, like labour, can be unemployed, and Mill gives an example of inefficient taxation of productive capital, then he observes the surplus to living standards created by industrialism. Mills answer was that international trade benefited most the country whose demand for goods is most elastic and it is also in this third book, primarily in Chapter I, that Mill considers communism and socialism as alternatives to capitalism. The first followed the Malthusian line that population grew quicker than supplies, leading to falling wages, the second, per Smith, said if capital accumulated faster than population grew then real wages would rise

Principles of Political Economy
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Cover first edition, 1848

44.
John Stuart Mill
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John Stuart Mill was an English philosopher, political economist and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism, he contributed widely to social theory, political theory, Mill was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by his predecessor Jeremy Bentham, and contributed significantly to the theory of the scientific method. A member of the Liberal Party, he was also the first Member of Parliament to call for womens suffrage. John Stuart Mill was born on Rodney Street in the Pentonville area of London, the eldest son of the Scottish philosopher, historian and economist James Mill, John Stuart was educated by his father, with the advice and assistance of Jeremy Bentham and Francis Place. He was given a rigorous upbringing, and was deliberately shielded from association with children his own age other than his siblings. Mill was a precocious child. He describes his education in his autobiography, at the age of three he was taught Greek. By the age of eight, he had read Aesops Fables, Xenophons Anabasis, and the whole of Herodotus and he had also read a great deal of history in English and had been taught arithmetic, physics and astronomy. At the age of eight, Mill began studying Latin, the works of Euclid, and algebra and his main reading was still history, but he went through all the commonly taught Latin and Greek authors and by the age of ten could read Plato and Demosthenes with ease. His father also thought that it was important for Mill to study, one of Mills earliest poetic compositions was a continuation of the Iliad. In his spare time he enjoyed reading about natural sciences and popular novels, such as Don Quixote. In the following year he was introduced to political economy and studied Adam Smith and David Ricardo with his father, Ricardo, who was a close friend of his father, used to invite the young Mill to his house for a walk in order to talk about political economy. At the age of fourteen, Mill stayed a year in France with the family of Sir Samuel Bentham, the mountain scenery he saw led to a lifelong taste for mountain landscapes. The lively and friendly way of life of the French also left an impression on him. In Montpellier, he attended the courses on chemistry, zoology, logic of the Faculté des Sciences. While coming and going from France, he stayed in Paris for a few days in the house of the renowned economist Jean-Baptiste Say, there he met many leaders of the Liberal party, as well as other notable Parisians, including Henri Saint-Simon. Mill went through months of sadness and pondered suicide at twenty years of age, according to the opening paragraphs of Chapter V of his autobiography, he had asked himself whether the creation of a just society, his lifes objective, would actually make him happy. His heart answered no, and unsurprisingly he lost the happiness of striving towards this objective, eventually, the poetry of William Wordsworth showed him that beauty generates compassion for others and stimulates joy

John Stuart Mill
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Mill circa 1870
John Stuart Mill
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John Stuart Mill and Helen Taylor. Helen was the daughter of Harriet Taylor and collaborated with Mill for fifteen years after her mother's death in 1858.
John Stuart Mill
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"A Feminine Philosopher". Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1873.
John Stuart Mill
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Essays on economics and society, 1967

45.
Collective action problems
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Collective action refers to action taken together by a group of people whose goal is to enhance their status and achieve a common objective. It is enacted by a representative of the group and it is a term that has formulations and theories in many areas of the social sciences including psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science and economics. An important assumption of this approach is that people tend to respond to subjective states of disadvantage, examining collective action through perceived injustice was initially guided by relative deprivation theory. Group-based emotions resulting from perceived injustice, such as anger, are thought to motivate collective action in an attempt to rectify the state of unfair deprivation, meta-analysis results confirm that effects of injustice causally predict collective action, highlighting the theoretical importance of this variable. Moving beyond RDT, scholars suggested that in addition to a sense of injustice, people must also have the objective, empirically, collective efficacy is shown to causally affect collective action among a number of populations across varied contexts. Social identity theory suggests that people strive to achieve and maintain positive social identities associated with their group memberships, meta-analysis results also confirm that social identity causally predicts collective action across a number of diverse contexts. This model suggests that perceived group efficacy and perceived injustice provide the basis from which social identity emerges, recent research has sought to integrate SIMCA with intergroup contact theory and others have extended SIMCA through bridging morality research with the collective action literature. The economic theory of action is concerned with the provision of public goods through the collaboration of two or more individuals, and the impact of externalities on group behavior. It is more commonly referred to as Public Choice, mancur Olsons 1965 book The Logic of Collective Action, Public Goods and the Theory of Groups, is an important early analysis of the problems of public good cost. Besides economics, the theory has many applications in political science, sociology, communication, anthropology. The ideal solution is then to undertake this as a collective action, an allegorical metaphor often used to describe the problem is belling the cat. Mancur Olson made the claim that individual rational choice leads to situations where individuals with more resources will carry a higher burden in the provision of the good than poorer ones. Poorer individuals will usually have little choice but to opt for the free rider strategy and this may also encourage the under-production of the public good. While public goods are provided by governments, this is not always the case. Various institutional designs have been studied with the aim of reducing the collaborative failure, the best design for a given situation depends on the production costs, the utility function, and the collaborative effects, amongst other things. Here are only some examples, A joint-product model analyzes the effect of joining a private good to a public good. For example, a tax deduction can be tied to a donation to a charity and it can be shown that the provision of the public good increases when tied to the private good, as long as the private good is provided by a monopoly. Some institutional design, e. g. intellectual property rights, can introduce an exclusion mechanism, if the costs of the exclusion mechanism are not higher than the gain from the collaboration, clubs can emerge

46.
OECD
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The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 35 member countries, founded in 1960 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. Most OECD members are high-income economies with a very high Human Development Index and are regarded as developed countries, in 1948, the OECD originated as the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, led by Robert Marjolin of France, to help administer the Marshall Plan. This would be achieved by allocating American financial aid and implementing programs for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. The OECDs headquarters are at the Château de la Muette in Paris, the OECD is funded by contributions from member states at varying rates. And had a budget of EUR363 million in 2015. It started its operations on 16 April 1948, and originated from the work done by the Committee of European Economic Co-operation in 1947 in preparation for the Marshall Plan, since 1949, it was headquartered in the Château de la Muette in Paris, France. After the Marshall Plan ended, the OEEC focused on economic issues, in 1958, a European Nuclear Energy Agency was set up under the OEEC. By the end of the 1950s, with the job of rebuilding Europe effectively done, some leading countries felt that the OEEC had outlived its purpose and this reconstituted organisation would bring the US and Canada, who were already OEEC observers, on board as full members. It would also set to work away on bringing in Japan. Following the 1957 Rome Treaties to launch the European Economic Community, the Convention was signed in December 1960 and the OECD officially superseded the OEEC in September 1961. It consisted of the European founder countries of the OEEC plus the United States and Canada, the official founding members are, During the next 12 years Japan, Finland, Australia, and New Zealand also joined the organisation. Yugoslavia had observer status in the organisation starting with the establishment of the OECD until its dissolution as a country, the OECD created agencies such as the OECD Development Centre, International Energy Agency, and Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering. Unlike the organizations of the United Nations system, OECD uses the spelling organisation with an s in its name rather than organization, in 1989, after the Revolutions of 1989, the OECD started to assist countries in Central Europe to prepare market economy reforms. This programme also included an option for these countries. As a result of this, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, in the 1990s, a number of European countries, now members of the European Union, expressed their willingness to join the organisation. In 1995, Cyprus applied for membership, but, according to the Cypriot government, in 1996, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania signed a Joint Declaration expressing willingness to become full members of the OECD. Slovenia also applied for membership that same year, in 2005, Malta applied to join the organisation. The EU is lobbying for admission of all EU member states, Romania reaffirmed in 2012 its intention to become a member of the organisation through the letter addressed by the Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta to OECD Secretary-General José Ángel Gurría

47.
Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894
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The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894 was a piece of industrial relations legislation passed by the Parliament of New Zealand in 1894. Enacted by the Liberal Government of New Zealand, it was the worlds first compulsory system of state arbitration and it gave legal recognition to unions and enabled them to take disputes to a Conciliation Board, consisting of members elected by employers and workers. It is based on a scheme devised by a South Australian politician, registration of unions under the Act was voluntary, and unions could choose to remain outside the Act and negotiate directly with employers. If a union registered it was bound to comply with the rulings of the Arbitration Court and could not, for example, as a result, in the early 20th century, some militant and/or strong unions chose not to register. However most unions and their members benefitted from the Act, as few had the power to negotiate terms better than those laid down by the Court. The Act forbade the registration of unions where one already existed in the same industry, the First Labour Governments 1936 amendment had two major provisions, the 40-hour week and compulsory unionism. Awards could not require more than 40 hours work a week, not counting overtime, and this was to be arranged, exemptions could be made if a 40-hour week was impractical, but this rarely occurred. The amendment also made it illegal to employ a worker who was not a member of a bound by the relevant award or agreement for that industry. The 1961 amendment, passed by the Second National Government abolished compulsory unionism, however membership continued to be compulsory when unions and employers agreed that it should be, or if 50% of relevant workers voted for compulsory unionism in their industry. Even in cases where compulsory unionism did not remain in force, hence the amendment had little practical impact

48.
Australian labour movement
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The Australian labour movement has its origins in the early 19th century and includes both trade unions and political activity. At its broadest, the movement encompasses an industrial wing and a political wing, Trade unions in Australia may be organised on the basis of craft unionism, general unionism, or industrial unionism. The leadership and membership of unions hold and have at times held a wide range of political views, including communist, socialist. According to ABS figures, in August 2013, there were 1.7 million members of unions in relation to their main job. A further 4% did not know whether they were union members or not. Of those who were a union member in relation to their main job. Trade union membership has declined over recent years, with 2013 being the lowest proportion in the history of the ABS series. According to ACTU figures, the number of members of unions in 1983 was 2,376,900 but by 2002 it was 1,833,700. The colony of New South Wales came into existence in 1788 as a penal colony, Australia never had formal slavery, but the convicts transported to the colony were required to work, without pay, either for the administration or could be required to work for private landholders. Others, particularly the Kanaka from the South Pacific islands, were kidnapped or otherwise induced into exploitative long-term indentured service contracts. Initially, following British laws, trade unions in Australia were suppressed, a trade union or other association could also be regarded as illegal because of being a restraint of trade. On the other hand, the position was slowly liberalised and through the British Trade Union Act 1871 and the Conspiracy, by 1902, the Master and Servant Act 1823 had been modified to include forfeit of wages if the written or unwritten contract for work was unfulfilled. Absence from place of work was punishable by imprisonment of up to three months with or without hard labour. There were also penalties of up to ₤10 for anyone who harboured, concealed or re-employed a servant who had deserted or absconded or absented himself from his duty implied in the contract. Under the Master and Servant Acts enacted in the Australian colonies in the 1840s, as little as one hour’s absence by a free servant without permission could precipitate a punishment of prison or the treadmill. In the 1800s, most Victorians worked up to 14 hours a day, there was no sick leave, no holiday leave, and employers could sack employees at any time, without giving a reason. On 18 August 1855 the Stonemasons Society in Sydney issued an ultimatum to employers that in six months time, masons would only work an eight-hour day. However men working on the Holy Trinity Church in Argyle Cut and they pre-emptively went on strike, won the eight-hour day, and celebrated with a victory dinner on 1 October 1855

Australian labour movement
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Eight-hour day banner, Melbourne, 1856
Australian labour movement
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University of Melbourne site where Stonemasons won the 8 hour day in 1856
Australian labour movement
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Eight Hour Procession, 4 October 1909
Australian labour movement
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Federated Society of Boilermakers, Iron & Steel Shipbuilders of Australia, Union Banner A928321h

49.
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
–
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is a federal statute of the United States. Several exemptions exist that relieve an employer from having to meet the minimum wage, overtime. The largest exceptions apply to the white collar exemptions that are applicable to professional. Exemptions are narrowly construed, as an employer must prove that the employees fit plainly and unmistakably within the exemptions terms, the Fair Labor Standards Act applies to any individual employed by an employer but not to independent contractors or volunteers because they are not considered employees under the FLSA. Some employers similarly mislabel employees as volunteers, Courts look at the economic reality of the relationship between the putative employer and the worker to determine whether the worker is an independent contractor. Courts use a similar test to determine whether a worker was concurrently employed by more than one person or entity, for example, a farm worker may be considered jointly employed by a labor contractor and a grower. If an employee is entitled to overtime, the employer must pay them one, employees employed in a ministerial role by a religiously affiliated employer are not entitled to overtime under the act. During World War II, the Army-Navy E Award for excellence in war production required maintaining the fair labor standards established under the Act, if the employees wage does not equal minimum wage, including tips, the employer must make up the difference. However, the employee must be allowed to keep all tips, a tip pool may also contain only employees who customarily and regularly receive tips. The phrase customarily and regularly signifies a frequency which must be greater than occasional, while the nomenclature of a job title is not dispositive, the job of busboy is explicitly validated for tip-pool inclusion by an authoritative source. A busboy performs a part of customer service without much direct interaction. The Fair Labor Standards Act was originally drafted in 1932 by Senator Hugo Black, Blacks proposal to require employers to adopt a thirty-hour workweek met stiff resistance. In 1938, a version of Senator Blacks proposal was passed that adopted an eight-hour day. According to the act, workers must be minimum wage. Children under eighteen cannot do certain jobs, and children under the age of sixteen cannot work during school hours. The Fair Labor Standards Act affected 700,000 workers, in response, Congress passed the Portal-to-Portal Act narrowing the Supreme Courts decision. The 1947 Portal-to-Portal Act specified exactly what type of time was considered compensable work time. In general, as long as an employee is engaging in activities that benefit the employer, regardless of when they are performed and it also specified that travel to and from the workplace was a normal incident of employment and should not be considered paid working time

Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
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History of the federal minimum wage in real and nominal dollars.